War News for Friday, November 20, 2009

CIA Chief Panetta meets Zardari, Gilani:


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: A bomb wounded nine people when it exploded inside a popular restaurant in the southern district of Doura in Baghdad on Thursday, police said.


Mosul:
#1: Unidentified gunmen opened fire at a civilian man on al-Ma’ash souk (outdoor market) in western Mousl city, killing him instantly and escaping to an unknown place.

#2: Meanwhile, the same source added that “a civilian man carrying an Egyptian passport was stabbed to death by an unidentified man on al-Arba’a souk in central Mosul.

#3: Two policemen were wounded on Friday in a bomb blast in western Mosul, according to a security source. “An improvised explosive device went off on Friday (Nov. 20) targeting a police vehicle patrol in Nables intersection in western Mosul, injuring two policemen,”



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A suicide bomber riding a motorcycle killed 16 people, including two children and a policeman, and wounded at least 23 others Friday in a busy city square in western Afghanistan, officials said. Provincial Gov. Rohul Amin said the blast occurred about 55 yards (50 meters) from his compound in a crowded square in Farah. Amin said the 16 killed included two children. Dr. Shir Agh Asas at the hospital in Farah city said several children also were among the wounded. A police officer also died.

#2: Also Friday, three civilians were wounded by a roadside bomb in Khost province, according to Wazir Pacha, deputy police chief of Khost.

Three civilians were killed and three others were injured as their car hit a roadside bomb in Khost city capital of Khost province in eastern Afghanistan on Friday, police said. "Three civilians were killed and three more wounded as the vehicle they riding in hit a roadside bomb along the road in Gulzad Aka area of Khost city in the wee hours of Friday," said Guldad, the chief of criminal investigation department of Afghan National Police in the province.

#3: Separately, NATO said Afghan and international forces killed a man in Takhar province in northern Afghanistan on Friday believed to be an operative with the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan who was responsible for financing militant activities and transporting foreign fighters into the region. The man was killed during a search of a compound in rural Bangi district, it said.

#4: A U.S. drone fired two missiles at a compound being used by suspected Taliban militants in a village near Mir Ali in North Waziristan, according to two intelligence officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release the information. The compound was destroyed and eight bodies were pulled from the rubble, the officials said, adding that two other suspected militants were wounded.

#5: officials said five Pakistani troops and six militants were killed in a gunbattle at a security outpost in the Bajur tribal region — the site of a military campaign against Taliban militants that ended with a declaration of victory in March. The fighting broke out after militants ambushed the outpost near the village of Chinar with rockets and gunfire, according to local administrator Ghulam Sadullah Khan.

#6: Two police officers were killed and four others wounded when a remote-controlled bomb destroyed their vehicle in Peshawar early Friday, said city police Chief Liaquat Ali Khan.

A roadside bomb killed three police officers and wounded six early Friday in Pakistan's troubled north-western city of Peshawar, police said.The casualties occurred when a police vehicle on patrol was hit by a remote-controlled bomb in the Yakka Toot neighbourhood. 'Two policemen died at the scene while one more died in the hospital,' police officer Abdul Qadir said.

#7: Afghan parliament member Abdul Rasoul Sayaf Friday escaped a roadside bomb attack in capital city Kabul, but his four bodyguards were killed and six injured.


MoD: Sergeant Robert Loughran-Dickson

DoD: Spc. Joseph M. Lewis

War News for Thursday, November 19, 2009

The British MoD is reporting the death of a British ISAF soldier from small arms fire in the Babaji area, Helmand province, Afghanistan on Wednesday, November 18th.

The Washington Post is reporting the deaths of two American soldiers in a bombing in Zabul province, Afghanistan on Thursday, November 19th. Other news reports this as a suicide car bombing.


Veto of Iraq’s Election Law Could Force Vote Delay:

U.S. Demands Clear Results From Afghan Reforms: (What a joke)


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: Wednesday Gunmen tried to kill Mohammed Aziz Al Shamari, an advisor for the Iraqi government, in Sleikh neighborhood. Al Shamri was injured.

#2: Wednesday A bomb stuck to a car of a governmental employee exploded as the employee drove his car inside a governmental complex. The employee was injured.


Diyala Prv:
#1: One civilian was killed and another one was injured Wednesday by a roadside bomb blast in Jalawlaa, according to a security source. “An improvised explosive device went off Wednesday (Nov. 18) targeting a civilian vehicle in Bunayra village in Jalawlaa, southwest of Khanaqin, killing a civilian and injuring another one.


Amarra:
#1: Police forces on Wednesday defused a roadside bomb south of Amara city, Missan province. “The bomb was planted on the al-Kahlaa – Qalaat Salih highway, 25 km south of Amara,” Lieutenant Colonel Mohammed Khalid al-Maliki told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Basra:
#1: An improvised explosive device (IED) on Thursday targeted a U.S. patrol vehicle in downtown Basra, according to a security source. “The blast, which occurred in al-Jumhouriya area near the Civil Defense Department in downtown Basra, did not cause casualties or damage to property,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Camp Anaconda:
#1: A number of mortar shells have fallen on a U.S. base in Salah al –Din, but no casualties have been reported, a local police source said on Thursday. “During an early hour this morning, a number of mortar shells landed on the U.S. Camp Anaconda in Yathrib district, southern Tikrit,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. There has been no word on casualties, the source pointed out.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: Wednesday A roadside bomb struck a police patrol, wounding two policemen, in Garma, 30 km (20 miles) northwest of Baghdad, police said.

#2: Wednesday A bomb planted on a bicycle wounded a policeman in Falluja, 50 km (32 miles) west of Baghdad, on Tuesday evening, police said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A suicide bomber killed 19 people Thursday outside a courthouse in northwestern Pakistan, the latest attack in an onslaught by Islamist militants fighting back against an army offensive in the nearby Afghan border region. The bomber, who arrived in a taxi, was being searched by police officers at the gate of the city's lower court when he detonated explosives on his body, government official Sahibzada Anees said.

#2: The bomb explosion occurred hours after missiles fired from a suspected U.S. drone killed three suspected militants in Shana Khuwara village in North Waziristan, another region close to the Afghan border region where al-Qaida and Taliban hold sway. The missiles hit a house owned by a local tribesman just after midnight, said two intelligence officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. Ahmed Noor Wazir, who witnessed the attack, said rescuers pulled three dead bodies and four badly wounded men from the rubble of the house, which was being used by Taliban militants. It was the third suspected drone strike since Pakistan launched the operation in mid-October. The pace of the attacks has slowed since the offensive began, possibly to avoid the perception that the U.S. is aiding the Pakistani army with the operation.

#3: Two civilians were injured by German troops in Kunduz province north of Afghanistan Wednesday. "The troops mistakenly opened fire in Ludin area of Kunduz province this afternoon injuring two persons. One is 15 years old and the other is 25," a spokesman with German troops said.

#4: At least six militants were killed while eight soldiers including two officers injured during ongoing military operation in Pakistan's South Waziristan tribal area in the last 24 hours, an army statement said Thursday.

On Shakai-Kaniguram axis, militants fired with small arms on security forces and five soldiers including an officer were injured. During exchange of fire, six militants were killed, the Inter Services Public Relations said in the daily press release.

On Jandola-Sararogha axis, three soldiers were injured including an officer by improvised explosive devices when security forces were patrolling the area.

#5: A suicide bomber detonated a vest packed with explosives in a crowded market in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, killing 10 civilians and wounding 13, a provincial police chief said. Uruzgan province police chief Juma Gul Himat said the bomber's vest exploded after he was fired on by troops while trying to attack a convoy of Afghan security forces. A media officer for NATO-led forces confirmed that 10 civilians had been reported killed in a suicide bomb strike in the area.


DOD Announces Army Casualty, Dustwun Status: Sgt. Brandon T. Islip

DoD: Staff Sgt. Ryan L. Zorn

War News for Wednesday, November 18, 2009

The Danish Defense Ministry is reporting the death of a Danish ISAF soldier at the the National Hospital in Copenhagen, Denmark on Tuesday, November 17th. The soldier was wounded in an IED attack in Helmand province, Afghanistan on Saturday, October 31st.


12 million barrels a day is unrealistic for Iraq:

Afghanistan: it's still about the oil:

Experts question Pak military's success in South Waziristan:

Pakistani Successes May Sway U.S. Troop Decision:

Fazlullah escapes to Afghanistan:

Army suicides expected to rise for 5th straight year:

Hillary Clinton makes surprise visit to Afghanistan:


Reported security incidents

Diyala Prv:
#1: “Army forcs found an unknown body today on the road between Mendli and al-Saadiya,” a military source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The body shows signs of gunshot wounds,” he added.

#2: A Sahwa leader was killed by al-Qaeda gunmen in Baaquba late Tuesday, commander of Sahwa fighters in Diala said on Wednesday. “An al-Qaeda-affiliated armed group launched an armed attack late Tuesday (Nov. 17) targeting Hamied Majied, the official of Sahwa fighters in Bab al-Darb region in Baaquba, killing him,” Houssam al-Majmaai told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “This is the second incident of its kind on Tuesday after the assassination of another Sahwa element in al-Uthmaniya region in Baaquba,” he added.


Tikrit:
#1: Two Katyusha rockets and a mortar shell hit two US bases in Salah el-Din province, a source from the joint coordination center in Tikrit said on Wednesday. “Two Katyusha rockets landed on Tuesday (Nov. 17) on Spiker base, north of Tikrit, without causing damage,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: “A mortar shell hit Anaconda base in Yathreb district, south of Tikrit, at dawn, with no word on casualties” the source added.


Kirkuk:
#1: Two persons were wounded on Tuesday in a bomb explosion in central Kirkuk, a senior police officer said. “An improvised explosive device went off on Tuesday afternoon (Nov. 17) near an alcoholic beverages store in Atlas street in central Kirkuk.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: Two civilians were wounded on Tuesday evening in a roadside bomb explosion in central Falluja, a security source said. “An explosive charge went off near the house of a policeman in al-Dubat neighborhood in central Falluja, injuring two civilians,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: “Another bomb exploded near the house of a policeman in Dour al-Sement neighborhood in east of Falluja, injuring three civilians,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Twenty-three Taliban-linked militants were killed in an operation by Afghan and Western troops in the province of Paktika late Tuesday, Hamidullah Zhwak, a provincial spokesman, said in a statement. NATO warplanes pounded insurgent positions in support of ground forces in Paktika's Barmal district on the Pakistani border, the spokesman added.

#2: About 16 other insurgents were killed in separate operations, involving Afghan and international forces, in several provinces mainly in the south where the insurgency is most intense, the defence ministry said.


MoD: Corporal Loren Marlton-Thomas

War News for Tuesday, November 17, 2009

The British MoD is reporting the death of a British ISAF soldier in an IED attack near Gereshk, Helmand province, Afghanistan on Sunday, November 15th.

MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Multi-National Division - North soldier in a vehicle accident in an undisclosed location presumably in northern Iraq on Monday, November 16th.


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: Police forces found four bodies on Monday in western Baghdad, said a security source.
“The forces found four bullet-riddled bodies in al-Raas region in al-Aanaz village, western Baghdad,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: Four civilians on Tuesday were injured in an explosive charge blast in southern Baghdad, according to the Iraqi police. “At noon, an improvised explosive device (IED) went off in front of a stationer’s on 60 St., al-Doura neighborhood (southern Baghdad), wounding four civilians.


Diyala Prv:
#1: Unknown gunmen on Tuesday killed a Sahwa member during an attack on a checkpoint in Baaquba, according to a Sahwa leader. “Today, an armed group belonging to al-Qaeda launched an attack on a Sahwa checkpoint in al-Othmaniya area, Baaquba,” Hossam al-Mujammaie told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “One Sahwa member was killed in the attack,” the leader noted.


Mahmoudiya:
#1: At least three civilians were killed and six others were wounded in an explosion in southern Baghdad on Monday, the Baghdad Operations Command (BOC) said in a statement. “A stockpile of ammunition went off in al-Qura Ghul region, and in al-Mahmoudiya district in southern Baghdad, killing three and injuring six,” said the statement received by Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

A booby trapped weapons cache in Qara Ghol area in the city of Mahmoudiyah, 40 km to the south of Baghdad blew up while Iraqi security forces were investigating it, Monday. The explosion killed three servicemen and injured six others.


Mahaweel:
#1: A Baghdad police lieutenant kidnapped his wealthy neighbour's 10-year-old son, killed him and then sought 160,000 dollars before being snared when his phone calls were traced, police said on Tuesday. The crime occurred in Mahawil, a town 80 kilometres (50 miles) south of Baghdad, in Babil province. "We have arrested him and he has confessed to the crime," a police official in Hilla, the provincial capital, told AFP.


Shurqat:
#1: Police forces on Tuesday discovered a body belonging to a civilian in southern al-Shurqat district, Salah al-Din, according to a local security source. “On Tuesday, al-Shurqat police personnel found a body belonging to a civilian in Shukra village, southern al-Shurqat,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Hawija:
#1: Update The casualties from the car bomb explosion that ripped through central Kirkuk on Monday went up to six dead and eight wounded, according to the KDPD chief. “The explosion that occurred on Monday (Nov. 16) in Salah el-Din street in Khan Khorma region in central Kirkuk killed six and injured eight,” Brig. Sarhad Qader told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Kirkuk:
#1: In the city of Kirkuk, police found the body of prominent local businessman Shahin Mahmoud Shahin. Shahin, who had been abducted earlier this week, was found with a bullet in his chest in the neighbourhood of al-Hai al-Sanai.

#2: Elsewhere in the city, police found the body of a young man aged about 30. Police said he had apparently been tortured to death.

#3: Police forces on Tuesday found a body bearing gunshot wounds south of Kirkuk, according to a local police chief. “This morning, a corpse was found in al-Qadissiya al-Thaniya area near the market in southern Kirkuk,” the director of Orouba’s police, Col. Shirzad Mofry, told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#4: Gunmen in a speeding car opened fire upon three people in Rabrin neighbourhood, eastern Kirkuk, Monday, killing one, who was a member of the Kurdish intelligence, the Asayesh and injuring the other two who are civilians.

#5: A parked car bomb targeted civilians near a shrine holy to the Kaka'i sect in one of the crowded marketplaces in central Kirkuk killing six civilians, injuring another eight. The explosion also caused great material damage to the nearby shops.


Mosul:
#1: At least three people were killed and two injured Monday when a bomb exploded in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, police told the German Press Agency dpa. The bomb tore through a street in the al-Tahrir neighbourhood of eastern Mosul, police said, adding that the two injured civilians had been brought to hospital.

#2: One civilian was killed and his son was injured by gunmen in western Mosul on Monday, a security source said. “Unknown gunmen shot and killed a civilian and injured his son in 17 Tamouz region in western Mosul,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#3: An Iraqi judge on Tuesday escaped an attempt on his life when gunmen attacked his car near Mosul, according to a local police chief. “Unknown gunmen driving a white pick-up truck attacked Judge Rabeea Abdulkareem Sadeq in Kakhorta area, al-Boogha village (60 km northwest of Mosul). “The judge was not hurt in the attack, but his driver was wounded and taken to the hospital for treatment,” Obeid noted.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: Three synchronized bombings on Monday evening in central Falluja left 12 civilian casualties, according to a local security source.

Three simultaneous explosions targeted houses in which policemen lived in Fallujah at around 7.30 p.m. Monday, injuring eight people including four policemen, two of whom are critical.

#2: Two simultaneous explosions targeted two houses in which policemen lived in Fallujah before dawn, Monday. In the first house, an IED placed in a large patrol container was used and four family members including children were badly wounded. The second house was partly destroyed by the explosion in which two family members were wounded.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Taliban militants attacked a unit of private security guards in Chardarah district in the northern province of Kunduz on Monday night, killing four guards and injuring another, Abdul Wahid Omarkhel, the district governor, said. The guards were providing security for a bridge construction project in Rahmat Bai village, he said, adding that a Taliban fighter was also killed in the firefight.

#2: Meanwhile, two militants including a district-level commander were killed in an operation jointly conducted by Afghan, German and US forces in Sarakbala area of the same district (Kunduz province) on Monday, Mohammad Razaq Yaqoubi, the provincial police chief, said. He said two pro-government militia fighters were also killed in the operation.

#3: Also on Monday, five insurgents including two rebel commanders were killed in a firefight with Afghan and international forces in Kunduz's Ali Abad district, Yaqoubi said.

#4: Pakistani security forces have cleared the Taliban stronghold of Srarogha in South Waziristan after an intense five-day battle in which 180 militants and seven soldiers were killed, disclosed an army officer Tuesday. Briefing reporters in South Waziristan's largest town of Wana, Brigadier Shafiq, the commander of the Rah-e-Nijat military operation, said troops were now advancing towards Makeen, another stronghold of the militants, and the area would also be cleared within a few days, Online news agency reported.


MoD: Rifleman Andrew Ian Fentiman

DoD: Staff Sgt. Stephen L. Murphy

DoD: Lance Cpl. Shawn P. Hefner

DoD: Spc. Christopher J. Coffland

War News for Monday, November 16, 2009

The British MoD is reporting the death of a British ISAF soldier from small arms fire near Sangin, Helmand province, Afghanistan on Sunday, November 15th.

NATO is reporting the death of an American ISAF soldier in an IED attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Friday, November 13th.

NATO is reporting the death of an American ISAF soldier in an IED attack in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Friday, November 13th. An American civilian contractor also died in the attack.


Friends React To Local Soldiers Death (this article refers to two other Marines who died in the same blast. We don't have any triple death releases and are waiting confirmation from the DoD before adding any of the three reported deaths to the count.)

Georgia Sends Troops to Afghanistan:

US wants to destabilise Pakistan, Afghanistan: Jamaat-e-Islami:

U.S. Asks More From Pakistan in Terror War:


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: Two Iraqi soldiers on Monday were killed and six others were injured in an explosive charge blast in the capital Baghdad, the Iraqi police said. “Unknown gunmen planted an improvised explosive device (IED) near the concrete barriers close to an army checkpoint in al-Mansour neighborhood, western Baghdad,”


Diyala Prv:
#1: An owner of a gas station on Monday was kidnapped by armed men near Diala’s Baaquba, according to a local security source. “Today, a group of gunmen broke into al-Burj gas station, al-Salam district (15 km north of Baaquba) and took its owner, Khaleel Majeed, to an unkown destination,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Abu Ghraib:
#1: Gunmen killed at least 13 people in a Sunni village west of Baghdad, dumping their bullet-riddled bodies in a cemetery, Iraqi security officials said Monday. The dead included relatives of a leading figure in the local branch of the influential Iraqi Islamic Party, according to local police official Waleed al-Zubaei. He added that all 13 had been shot in the head, possibly execution-style, as well as elsewhere in their bodies.

Gunmen dressed in Iraqi army uniforms launched two execution-style attacks west of Baghdad on Monday, killing 13 members of a tribe who took up arms against Al-Qaeda, a villager and security official said. The gunmen swarmed into Seadan village, about 20 kilometres (10 miles) from Baghdad before dawn and ordered six residents out of their houses, lined them up in a field and shot them dead, said Mohamed al-Zubaie, a resident. The assassins then entered the home of Attala Ouda al-Shuker, a leader in the Sahwa (Awakening) movement of Sunni tribesmen who joined US forces in 2006, and shot dead three of his sons and four other relatives, Zubaie said. "They killed three of his sons and four cousins," he said, adding that all those killed were members of the Zubaa tribe.


Hawija:
#1: A car bomb exploded on Monday in central Kirkuk, leaving unspecified number of casualties, according to the KDPD chief. “The booby-trapped car went off on Monday (Nov. 16) at the center of a popular marketplace near al-Huwaiyja garage in central Kirkuk,” Brig. Sarhad Qader told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Mosul:
#1: One civilian has been injured when a thermal bomb detonated in downtown Mosul, a local security source said on Monday. “Last night (Nov. 15), a thermal bomb went off at a police checkpoint on al-Farouq St. (downtown Mosul), wounding one civilian who was close to the scene of the blast,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: Two civilians on Monday were injured in an explosive charge blast in Mosul city, according to a local security source. “This morning, an improvised explosive device (IED) went off in Raas al-Jaada area, downtown Mosul, wounding two civilians,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. The explosion did not target military personnel, the source noted.

#3: Iraqi army forces on Monday defused two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) near an oil well in Mosul, according to a local security source. “An Iraqi army force has dismantled two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) near an oil well in al-Qayara district, southern Mosul.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: Five civilians on Monday were injured in an explosive charge blast in Falluja, according to a local security source. “An improvised explosive device (IED) planted by unknown gunmen detonated today near a house in Albo Alwan village, western Falluja, wounding five civilians



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Afghan police in volatile Kandahar province say militants have attacked a police checkpoint in southern Afghanistan, killing as many as eight police officers and wounding at least three others. Police say militants assaulted the checkpoint overnight from several directions. Authorities say they are searching for the attackers.

#2: Insurgents fired two rockets Monday into a crowded market northeast of Kabul where the head of French forces in Afghanistan held a meeting with tribal elders. The attack killed three children and wounded 20 other people, the French military said. Capt. Michel, who can only be identified by his first name according to French military policy, said the attack appeared to have targeted Brig. Gen. Marcel Druart, who met in the marketplace with elders from the Tagab Valley to discuss a major French offensive there. Two Chinese-made Chicom rockets landed about 12 yards (meters) away from the meeting. The general was not hurt, Michel said. French officers said none of the wounded were NATO troops.

#3: A suicide bomber on Monday blew up a car packed with explosives near a college in Pakistan's Peshawar, killing four people. The bomber struck in a suburban road as children were going to school in the northwest city, devastating a mosque, destroying two rooms at a boys' college and bringing down one wall of a police station, witnesses said. "The death toll is four and there are 26 injured," doctor Zafar Iqbal at the Lady Reading hospital told AFP. One child was among the dead with four wounded. Witnesses said that a pick-up vehicle sped towards the police station and exploded nearby, leaving much of the building in ruins as ambulances raced through the streets in the densely populated suburb of Budh Ber.

#4: The helicopter of Germany’s new Defence Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg was almost hit by the Taliban in Afghanistan, where he had gone to visit German troops. On Friday, Guttenberg’s helicopter narrowly missed the heavy machine gun and tracer firing from Taliban, as it flew in convoy with two others above Kunduz province. The Minister in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s new centre-right government was not hurt as his helicopter zigzagged through the sky with troops on board returning the fire.

#5: A few days back, a German helicopter had received a direct hit from Taliban guns on its fuel tank and was forced to make an emergency landing.

#6: Afghan and NATO-led troops killed six insurgents and detained 15 in several operations in various parts of the country on Sunday, the Afghan Defence Ministry said.

#7: Three insurgents were killed when a roadside bomb they were planting exploded in Kandahar's Panjwai district on Sunday, the Defence Ministry said in a statement. It said one suspect was detained.

#8: Taliban insurgents beheaded two kidnapped Afghans in western Farah province on Sunday after accusing them of assisting the government, police chief Faqir Ahmad Askar said. Three others who had also been kidnapped were released, he said

News of the Day for Sunday, November 15, 2009

D.C. Anti-War Network activist Jose J. Rodriguez takes part in a demonstration to oppose "American violations of international human rights" at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq by U.S. military personnel, in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in this February 9, 2005 file photo. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has filed a notice with the Supreme Court that will likely block the release of photos "depicting abuse of detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan by their U.S. Captors," according to a Politico report on November 14, 2009. Picture taken February 9, 2005. REUTERS/Larry Downing

Reported Security Incidents

Mosul

IED attack on Iraqi army patrol in western Mosul injures 3 soldiers. All three have been transported to a hospital.

A child and five other civilians are injured by a bomb explosion. The VoI story says the child was playing with the device.

al-Saadiya, near Khanaqin

Two brothers injured by IED.

Kirkuk

The Health Department says it has buried five bodies of unidentified men who were "terrorists." This rather mysterious announcement does not say how the men died or why they are presumed to be terrorists. Hmm.

al-Neda, Diyala Province

Roadside bomb attack on a minibus kills 1, injures 3. One of the wounded passengers is in critical condition.

Jedidat al-Shatt, near Baquba

Three police injured by a roadside bomb. The bomb also destroys several buildings. According to this Xinhua report, security forces also detained 13 suspects in Diyala during the day.

Other News of the Day

Iraqis accuse British soldiers of torture and abuse inspired by U.S. actions in Abu Ghraib prison. A huge scandal is erupting in the UK over multiplying allegations. There has been a great deal of reporting on this issue in the British press, but Robert Verkaik of The Independent appears to have first broken the new allegations made by attorney Phil Shiner on behalf of 33 complainants. Excerpt:

Disturbing graphic allegations of sexual and physical abuse of Iraqi civilians by British soldiers are among 33 new torture cases being investigated by the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

The fresh claims include allegations that female and male soldiers sexually abused and humiliated detainees in camps in southern Iraq, prompting comparisons with the torture practices employed by US soldiers at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad.

In one case, British soldiers are accused of piling Iraqi prisoners on top of each other and subjecting them to electric shocks, an echo of the abuse at the notorious US detention centre that came to light in 2004.

Lawyers and human rights groups warned yesterday that the British Army may face hundreds of claims of sexual and physical abuse after it was revealed the MoD was investigating the 33 cases.

Meanwhile, a British mercenary accused of killing two of his colleagues is set to be tried under Iraqi law. His family is bidding to have him returned to the UK for trial. His trial in Iraq has been postponed due to the destruction of the Ministry of Justice building by a truck bomb.

A huge epidemic of birth defects and early childhood cancer in Fallujah appears to be a legacy of war. Clusters of infant tumors have also been noted in Basra and Najaf. (I note that neural tube defects are among the abnormalities noted. These actually may be attributable to maternal malnutrition. Not that that's any excuse. -- C) Martin Chulov of The Guardian reports. Excerpt:

Doctors in Iraq's war-ravaged enclave of Falluja are dealing with up to 15 times as many chronic deformities in infants and a spike in early life cancers that may be linked to toxic materials left over from the fighting.

The extraordinary rise in birth defects has crystallised over recent months as specialists working in Falluja's over-stretched health system have started compiling detailed clinical records of all babies born.

Neurologists and obstetricians in the city interviewed by the Guardian say the rise in birth defects – which include a baby born with two heads, babies with multiple tumours, and others with nervous system problems - are unprecedented and at present unexplainable.

A group of Iraqi and British officials, including the former Iraqi minister for women's affairs, Dr Nawal Majeed a-Sammarai, and the British doctors David Halpin and Chris Burns-Cox, have petitioned the UN general assembly to ask that an independent committee fully investigate the defects and help clean up toxic materials left over decades of war – including the six years since Saddam Hussein was ousted.

AFP investigative report says Camp Bucca, where the U.S. held thousands of Iraqis, was a "breeding ground" for militants. Excerpt:

Iraq's Camp Bucca, the US-run jail where around 100,000 prisoners were kept over six years, was a breeding ground for the Al-Qaeda terror network, according to police and former inmates. Bucca, located in an isolated desert north of the border with Kuwait, was a school for scores of Takfiris, or Sunni extremists who usually ended up in Al-Qaeda, said Abu Mohammed, freed in 2008 after 26 months behind its bars.

"The illiterate and straight-forward people were the easiest prey for indoctrination," said the 32-year-old resident of Ramadi, the former insurgency stronghold 100 kilometres (62 miles) west of Baghdad.

snip

"The two suicide bombers and the majority of suspects detained after the twin bombings of August 19 against the foreign affairs and finance departments, which killed 95, were released shortly before from Camp Bucca," a senior interior ministry official told AFP.

"We reached the same conclusion for the double attack of October 25 which left 153 dead," the official said of the almost simultaneous blasts at the justice and public works ministries, after which 73 people were arrested.

Afghanistan Update

Two incidents in Nuristan leave Taliban and Afghan Army casualties. An attack on a NATO outpost is said to leave six attackers dead including a senior Taliban commander. Meanwhile three Afghan soldiers were killed and two injured in an attack on their camp.

French and Afghan troops launch an offensive in the Tagab valley just east of the capital, which is said to have been a base for attacks.

Helicopter of German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg comes under fire near Kunduz. There are no injuries.

Also in Kunduz, a roadside bomb injures two employees of a construction company.

Afghan MPs criticize Pakistan for its treatment of refugees from Afghanistan. Excerpt:

There are reports that some areas where Afghan refugees live have been destroyed by Pakistan Police and they have been warned to leave the country. “Even Afghans, who go by passports, face different kinds of treatment by the government of Pakistan.” Yonus Qanuni, speaker of Afghan parliament said.

“Afghans are illegally detained, they are taken hostage and are not allowed to walk freely, and they all are the violation of the protocol signed between two countries.” Shukria Barakzai, a member of parliament said. Meanwhile, some other MPs say that Afghans face the same problems in many other countries.

Patrick Cockburn reports that it is customary for Afghan soldiers to rape boys. I kid you not. Excerpt:

There was a horrified reaction across Britain last week when a 25-year old policeman called Gulbuddin working in a police station in the Nad Ali district of Helmand killed five British soldiers when he opened fire with a machine gun on them. But the reason he did so, according to Christina Lamb in The Sunday Times, citing two Afghans who knew Gulbuddin, was that he had been brutally beaten, sodomised and sexually molested by a senior Afghan officer whom he regarded as being protected by the British.

The slaughter at Nad Ali is a microcosm of what is happening across Afghanistan. It is why Mr Fox is wrong and General Eikenberry is right about the dangers of committing more American or British troops regardless of the way Afghanistan is ruled. Nor are the events which led to the deaths of the young British soldiers out of the ordinary. Western military officials eager to show success in training the Afghan army and police have reportedly suppressed for years accounts from Canadian troops that the newly trained security forces are raping young boys.

and we'll just give Cockburn the last word here . . .

Quote of the Day

[O]ne reason Afghan villagers prefer to deal with the Taliban rather than the government security forces is that the latter have a habit of seizing their sons at checkpoints and sodomizing them.

Patrick Cockburn

War News for Saturday, November 14, 2009

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Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: A magnetic bomb stuck to a civilian car parked in front of the house of its owners blew up Friday evening in New Baghdad, eastern Baghdad, causing only material damages to the car.

#2: A roadside bomb targeting an Iraqi police patrol wounded two policemen in eastern Baghdad, police said.

#3: Gunmen in a speeding car shot dead a policeman and his brother in northern Baghdad's Shaab District on Friday night, police said.

#4: Gunmen in a speeding car shot and wounded the interior ministry's economic crime unit chief, Brigadier General Wadhah Nasret, in central Baghdad on Friday, police said


Diyala Prv:
#1: Two policemen were wounded in clashes that erupted between the Iraqi police and the Iraqi army in the district of Baaquba on Friday, a security source in Diala said. “Clashes broke out on Friday in the area of al-Ghalibiya, Baaquba, between personnel from the Diala Police Department’s Major Crimes Unit and Iraqi army soldiers.

#2: Four people were wounded when a bike bomb went off near a café in central Baaquba city on Friday, a security source in Diala said. “The number of casualties from the explosive bike attack is initial,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. He did not give further details.


Iskandariya:
#1: A police force detained a man who was trying to wage an attack inside al-Iskandariya souk (outdoor market) north of al-Hilla city, with his shoes that contained TNT, according to the Babel police chief. “The police arrested a terrorist who carried a bag with a pair of shoes inside containing TNT and a timer,” Maj. General Fadel Raddar told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Kirkuk:
#1: One civilian man was killed by an unidentified gunman in central Kirkuk on Saturday, according to a source from the city’s Joint Coordination Center. “An unidentified man opened fire from his gun at a local resident in the Grand Souk (outdoor market) near al-Shohadaa bridge in central Kirkuk, killing him instantly,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “Police patrols from the Azadi police station who rushed to the scene found out that Jumaa Mohammed, born in 1973, a local resident of al-Shurja area, was shot down by an unidentified gunman who managed to escape to an unknown place,” he added.


Mosul:
#1: Unidentified gunmen shot down a 13-year-old Christian boy in eastern Mosul city and escaped to an unknown place on Friday, a Ninewa police source said. “The boy was playing near his Christian family’s house in al-Tahreer neighborhood, eastern Mosul, when the gunmen attacked him,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: A roadside bomb targeting an Iraqi army patrol wounded three soldiers in Garma, 30 km (20 miles) northwest of Baghdad, police said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A suicide bomber has attacked a police checkpoint in the Pakistani city of Peshawar on Saturday, killing at least five people, officials said. Unconfirmed reports put the death toll at seven with at least 25 others injured. Local media said a car laden with explosives had been driven into the checkpoint in the Pushta Khara area. Government official Sahibzada Muhammad Anis said the car exploded as police went to search it, AP news agency said.

#2: Pakistan's security forces killed seven militants during the last 24 hours in the Taliban strongholds of South Waziristan tribal agency, the army said in a daily press release on Saturday. The army said four troops were injured in clashes with militants as the operation in the northwest tribal area steadily progressed towards the Taliban base in South Waziristan.

#3: Four Taliban militants and three civilians were killed as a clash erupted between Taliban militants and government troops in Herat province, west of Afghanistan, a local official said Saturday. "The clash erupted Friday night when Taliban attacked a patrol team of international troops from a house in Shindand district and the troops returned fire killing four rebels," Lal Mohammad Omarzai, the governor of Shindand, told Xinhua. Three more civilians including a man from the same house were killed and three children got wounded, Omarzai added.

#4: Afghan and the NATO-led forces eliminated seven Taliban insurgents and detained three others in Wardak province, 40 km west of the capital city of Kabul, a private television channel reported Saturday. The joint operation was carried out in Nurkh district on Friday when a group of militants were poised to attack a police checkpoint, as a result seven Taliban fighters were killed, the Tolo television said in its news bulletin.