War News for Wednesday, February 16, 2011

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from a non-combat related injury in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, February 15th. News reports that a New Zealand soldier died from a vehicular accident near the village of Ferosak in the northeast of Bamiyan province. Three additional soldiers were injured in the accident.

News reports the death of an American soldier from a non-hostile related incident in an undisclosed location in central Iraq on Tuesday, February 15th.


Finnish Peacekeeper Dies in Afghanistan

Iraq Plans New Oil and Gas Auction .

Nato chief Petraeus to leave post by end of year: Report


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: At least 10 mortar shells were launched on Tuesday night against a military position, comprising U.S. and Iraqi police forces east of Baghdad, a security source said on Wednesday. "About 10 mortar shells were launched on Tuesday night on a joint position for U.S. and Iraqi police forces in east Baghdad's former General Security Directorate," the security source said, but did not define whether the attack had coased any casualties among the American and Iraqi police forces.


Diyala Prv:
#1: One policeman was killed and another one was wounded in a bomb blast in northwest of Baaquba, a security source said on Tuesday. “An explosive device went off on Tuesday (Feb. 15) targeting a police vehicle patrol near the main road of al-Hadid village, northwest of Baaquba, killing a cop and injuring another one,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. He did not give more details.


Kut:
#1: A spokeswoman for a southern Iraqi province says around 2,000 people attacked government offices and tried to set fire to the governor's house to protest often shoddy public services. Sondos al-Dahabi said Wednesday that 13 people were injured in the protest in the city of Kut, 100 miles (160 kilometers) southeast of Baghdad. She says protesters threw stones at the provincial council headquarters, set a trailer outside on fire and rushed inside the building. They also went to the governor's headquarters and his house, trying to set it on fire. Al-Dahabi says the governor was not at home.

#2: An interpreter of the U.S. engineering team working in Wassit was killed by a gun shot in eastern Kut, a source close to the U.S. army said on Tuesday. “An Iraqi interpreter was killed on Tuesday afternoon (Feb. 15) by a sniper while accompanying Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in al-Damouk neighborhood in eastern Kut,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Karbala:
#1: A U.S. Army patrol had been target for an improvised explosive device (IED) close to a checkpoint north of the Shiite holy cit of Karbala on Wednesday, eyewitnesses said. "We heard the noise of an exmplosion, which was due to an IED blast that targeted a U.S. Army patrol, coming back from northern Karbala on Wednesday," the eyewitnesses said, adding that one of the patrol's vehices had been the target of the attack, but failed to report any material or human losses.


Kirkuk:
#1: Gunmen stormed a house in Iraq's ethnically divided northern oil hub Kirkuk on Tuesday and kidnapped three Turks who were inside, police said. The five attackers entered the house in the south of the city in which eight Turkish workers and engineers were living and snatched three of them, a police officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity. He said the kidnappers were armed with four pistols and a Kalashnikov rifle, and carried out the raid at around 8:30 pm (1730 GMT).


Mosul:
#1: One civilian and two guards were wounded on Tuesday in a hand grenade explosion in the city of Mosul, a police source said. “An unknown gunman threw a hand grenade at the back door of the Central Bank in al-Jomhouriya street in the city of Mosul, injuring two of the bank’s guards and a passing civilian,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: A tribal chieftain of west Iraq's Ramadi city and his brother have been killed by a group of unknown armed men on Wednesday, an Abar Police source said. "A group of unknown gunmen, dressed in military uniform, attacked the house of Sheikh Ali Dayih in Garban area of Habbaniya city, east of Ramadi, instantly killing him and his brother," the police source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Four Afghan civilians have lost their lives when an errant missile fired by US-led forces struck their house in Afghanistan's southern province of Helmand. The US-led forces fired a missile which missed its target and hit the residential building. Parts of the structure were damaged in the incident, a Press TV correspondent reported on Wedneday.


News: Private Kirifi Mila

News: Senior Lieutenant Jukka Kansonen

MoD: Lance Corporal Kyle Marshall

War News for Tuesday, February 15, 2011

The British MoD is reporting the death of a British ISAF soldier from an IED attack in the Nahr-e Saraj district, Helmand province, Afghanistan on Monday, February 14th. This was reported by NATO in this release yesterday.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in northern Afghanistan on Tuesday, February 15th.


Pakistan and Afghanistan to Get New U.S. Envoy


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: "Four people were killed in two bomb explosions today in a marketplace in Zafaraniyah," a hospital source in the southern Baghdad district told AFP. "We received the bodies of three men and one woman, as well as six wounded."


Diyala Prv:
#1: The policeman was killed when a bomb exploded outside his home in the city of Baquba in the restive Diyala province north of the capital, a provincial police source said.


Kirkuk:
#1: Gunmen killed a civilian in front of his house in northern Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, a source in the Kirkuk security operations centre said.

#2: A grocery store owner was stabbed to death inside his shop in southern Kirkuk, a source in the Kirkuk security operations centre said.


Mosul:
#1: An Iraqi civilian has been injured in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast in northern Iraq's Mosul city on Tuesday, a Ninewa security source said. "A civilian has been injured in an IED blast in central Mosul's Bab-Ligish area on Tuesday," the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency, adding that the blast took place in a popular area and did not target any security force.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Two policemen were injured in a remote-controlled explosion in southwest Pakistani city of Quetta on Tuesday, local media reported. According to Urdu TV Duniya report, a local police van was on its routine patrol around the city when a remote-controlled bomb went off near it. A police official and another policeman were wounded in the blast and the car was partially destroyed.

War News for Monday, February 14, 2011

The British MoD is reporting the deaths of two British ISAF soldiers from a non-hostile incident at Camp Bastion, Helmand province, Afghanistan on Monday, February 14th.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Monday, February 14th.


Drones hurt Pakistan bid to win hearts and minds


Reported security incidents

Tarmiya:
#1: Gunmen using weapons equipped with silencers opened fire at a police patrol, killing one policeman and wounding two others in Tarmiya, 25 km (15 miles) north of Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.


Kirkuk:
#1: Two blasts took place southwest of Kirkuk on Sunday evening, leaving 20 vehicles ablaze and damaging several houses, a senior security official said. “Al-Zab district, (85 km) southwest of Kirkuk city, was rocked by two blasts near a store and a house that belongs to a leader of the sahwa (awakening) tribal fighters,” Brig. Sarhad Qader, the director of the Kirkuk Districts Police Department (KDPD), told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The two blasts left 20 vehicles on fire and caused damage to the house of a sahwa leader and nearby houses, but left no casualties,” Qader added.

Four persons have been injured and 20 cars were set ablaze in three explosions in Zab town, southwest of northern Iraq's oil-rich city of Kirkuk on Sunday night, a Kirkuk Police director said. "Three consecutive explosions took place, at 10 pm local time Sunday night, in Zab town, some 85 km to the southwest of Kirkuk, one inside a car show, the second close to the residence of al-Sahwa (Awakening) commander and the third inside the town's main market," Brigadier Sarhad Qader told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. He said that the result of the explosions had been 4 civilians injured and 20 cars set ablaze inside the car show, along with material damage to the house of the Sahwa commander and some marketing shops in the town. "Preliminary investigations have shown that the first blast inside the car show, belonging to Haj Tahsin Najim, had been caused by a Katusha rocket that fell on the car show, whilst the causes of the other explosions were not known till late Sunday night," the Police officer said, giving no further details.

#2: In Kirkuk, an armed group kidnapped Christian citizen Iyad Daoud in front of his house in Al Khadraa District, southern Kirkuk. Daoud was driven to an unknown destination.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: An armed man has been killed, in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast, while trying to plant it close to a traffic policeman's house in Falluja city in western Iraq's Anbar Province, a police source said on Monday. "An armed man, trying to plant an IED in a traffic policeman's house in central Falluja's Teachers District, was killed, while trying to blow up the explosive device," the security source said.

#2: A local government-backed militia leader, Hikmat al-Jumaili, was wounded when a roadside bomb blast struck his vehicle on Saturday in Garma, 30 km (20 miles) northwest of Baghdad, police said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A Taliban suicide attacker targeted a popular shopping mall in the heart of the Afghan capital Kabul on Monday, killing two guards and wounding at least two other people, officials said. Interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary told AFP that the attacker blew himself up after he was stopped at the gates of the Kabul City Centre, Afghanistan's first modern-style indoor shopping complex that opened in 2005. "It was a single blast. A suicide bomber tried to enter the mall. He was stopped by the guards at the entrance, he blew himself up and killed the two armed private guards and injured two other people nearby," he said.

News of the Day for Sunday, February 13, 2011

Reported Security Incidents

Samarra

Suicide bomber targeting Shiite pilgrims at a bus depot kills 48 on Saturday. The pilgrims had gathered to mark the death of Hasan al-Askari, the 11th Imam. (Note: The destruction of the golden dome of the mosque in Samarra commemorating the Askari Imams was a major trigger of sectarian violence in February, 2006.

Baghdad

One police officer killed, 2 injured in an attack using silenced weapons.

Other News of the Day

Hundreds demonstrate in Samawa, Muthanna Province on Saturday to demand improved government services and economic opportunity. Meanwhile, intensive security measures have been implemented in Ramadi in advance of a planned demonstration there. Note that these are highly disparate parts of the country.

In response to recent protests, the government says it will provide the first 1,000 KwH of electricity free to each consumer. Of course, it only helps if you actually have electricity . . .

Parliament approves 8 ministerial nominations. However, nominations for the sensitive security-related posts have yet to be made. The PM retains these responsibilities.

Afghanistan Update

Death toll in attack on police base in Kandahar yesterday now stands at 18, mostly police.

The U.S. has postponed a scheduled tri-lateral meeting among U.S., Pakistani and Afghan diplomats, apparently due to the continued detention of U.S. citizen Raymond Davis in Pakistan. This is a very strange case which has not gotten nearly the attention or critical analysis that it should here in the U.S. Davis, as you undoubtedly know, killed 2 Pakistanis in Lahore; a U.S. consular vehicle on the way to the scene struck and killed another. Davis is a civilian security contractor who the U.S. has claimed has diplomatic status, although they have not explained his job, why he was armed and why he had implements of spycraft. I just work here, but it seems pretty clear the Pakistanis think he was a hired assassin. The U.S. is awfully eager to pry him loose. -- C

Three killed in a clash between insurgents and foreign forces in Kunar. Although this article does not make it entirely clear, it implies the dead were civilian bystanders.

War News for Saturday, February 12, 2011

British civil society want UK troops out of Afghanistan


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: Two policemen and a sahwa (awakening) tribal fighter were wounded when an improvised explosive device blast targeted a police patrol west of the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Friday, a security source said. “An IED went off near a federal police patrol on al-Ta’ie street, al-Jihad neighborhood, west of Baghdad, leaving two policemen wounded,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Diyala Prv:
#1: Security forces in northern Iraq found a mass grave containing scores of people killed during the height of sectarian violence last decade, police told CNN on Saturday. At least 153 bodies were discovered in Buhriz, just south of Baquba in Diyala province -- a region north and east of Baghdad that endured waves of violence during the Iraqi war. Baquba police Lt. Col. Ghalib Atiya al-Jabouri said the victims included civilians, police and soldiers slain during the height of sectarian violence between 2005 and 2008. Iraq had been engulfed by fighting between Sunni and Shiite Muslims.


#2: A civilian was wounded due to a bomb stuck to a car parked next to a residential house in Al Mafrak region, western Baaquba.

Taji:
#1: Two civilians were wounded when an improvised explosive device (IED) went off near their vehicle north of Baghdad on Friday, a local security source said. “A roadside IED planted in al-Taji, north of Baghdad, went off on near a civilian vehicle on Friday (Feb. 11), leaving two persons wounded,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Dour:
#1: A roadside bomb went off by the house of the government-backed Sunni Sahwa militia leader for Jellam village and wounded two of his sons, police said. Jellam is south of Dour, a small town near Tikrit, 150 km (95 miles) north of Baghdad.


Kirkuk:
#1: A student has been killed in an explosion of a "strange device," south of northern Iraq's oil-rich city of Kirkuk on Friday night, according to a source representing the Joint Coordination Center in Kirkuk on Saturday. "A strange device, belonging to the former Iraqi Army, blew off in Yaychi village, 20 kms southwest of Kirkuk, when a 21-year-old student had been digging in the area of blast on Friday night," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Taliban insurgents attacked the provincial police headquarters in the southern city of Kandahar on Saturday, firing rocket-propelled grenades and touching off an ongoing street battle that has left at least one person dead. Zalmai Ayubi, a spokesman for the provincial governor of Kandahar, said several militants occupied a building across the street from the headquarters and are now surrounded by police. The police post is located in central Kandahar, not far from the governor's offices. At least one person was killed and 26 were wounded, Ayubi said. Ahmad Wali Karzai, head of the provincial council, said the five to six story building includes a wedding hall and shops. He said two or three militants disguised in police uniforms entered the building and began firing rocket-propelled grenades at the police headquarters. An Associated Press reporter nearby said multiple explosions rocked the neighborhood around the station. At least one of the initial blasts was followed by bursts of automatic gunfire, and that Afghan police were fighting insurgents in an ongoing gunbattle. Exchanges of gunfire occasionally died down, only to pick up again several minutes later.

Five people were killed and at least 24 civilians were injured when armed attackers entered a hotel and targeted a police headquarters in southern Afghanistan Saturday, a spokesman for the governor of Kandahar province said. The attackers opened fire from inside a hotel across from the police headquarters in Kandahar, the province's information center said. Zalmay Ayoubi, the governor's spokesman, said the dead included a police officer, an Afghan soldier and a civilian. Two of the suspected attackers were also killed, he said. Gunfire was still being exchanged at the scene Saturday afternoon.

#2: A British photographer has been seriously injured by a roadside blast while embedded with the U.S. Army in southern Afghanistan. Giles Duley, a Londoner who specializes in covering humanitarian issues, was flown back to the U.K. after undergoing multiple amputations at the United Nations hospital in Kandahar following the incident on Monday. The New York Times reported that he had stepped on a makeshift bomb while accompanying a foot patrol of U.S. soldiers from the 1st Squadron, 75th Cavalry Regiment, and Afghan troops. His brother, David Duley, was quoted as saying the journalist had lost one leg below the knee and another above the knee, while his left arm was severed above the elbow. However, he had escaped any internal injuries and has been conscious and lucid during treatment in the Queen Elizabeth hospital in Birmingham after being flown back to the U.K.


MoD: Private Lewis Hendry

MoD: Private Conrad Lewis

War News for Friday, February 11, 2011

Reported security incidents

Kirkuk:
#1: Four Sahwa fighters were killed and three citizens were wounded during clashes over properties in south of Kirkuk, commander of the Kirkuk Districts Police Department (KDPD) said on Friday. “Problems over properties in al-Bashier village between Arabs and Turcomans, flared up armed clash between them on Friday (Feb. 11), during which four Sahwa fighters were killed and three Turcomans were wounded,” Brigadier Sarhad Qader told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “KDPD, police and army forces intervened to stop any deterioration in the situation,” he added, without giving further details.


Mosul:
#1: An Iraqi army soldier was wounded when an improvised explosive device (IED) blast targeted his patrol in northern Mosul city on Thursday, a military source said. “An IED blast took place near an Iraqi army patrol in al-Baladiyat neighborhood, northern Mosul, today (Feb.10), leaving a soldier wounded,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: Armed men using guns with silencers shot dead a mobile shop owner late on Thursday in central Falluja, 50 km (32 miles) west of Baghdad, police said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Pakistan's military said it had killed 11 militants in the Swat valley, raising fears that rebels are again infiltrating the one-time tourism hub. "Security forces foiled an attempt to disrupt peace in the Swat valley when they killed 11 terrorists overnight," a military spokesman said. The spokesman said the fighters had fled Mohmand, a nearby tribal district where Pakistan is waging its latest air and ground offensive against homegrown Taliban blamed for near daily bomb attacks in the northwest.

#2: Separately, police in the town of Mardan said they had picked up five bodies from a field one day after a teenage suicide bomber dressed in school uniform killed 31 army recruits at a parade ground outside the town. A chit was attached to each body, listing the name and hometown of the deceased, and one scrap of paper said "long live Taliban Pakistan," said local police officer Samad Khan.

#3: Four small blasts on railway tracks in southern Pakistan disrupted train service from the port city of Karachi to other parts of the country Friday morning, railway officials said. General Manager of Pakistan Railways, Muhammad Ashfaq Khattak, said that four blasts of low intensity partially damaged tracks in Karachi and three other places in interior Sindh, of which Karachi is the capital. Railway officials said that train services were suspended after rail tracks in Karachi, and two other main cities, Hyderabad and Nawabshah, were blown up with explosives. Two persons were injured in the blast which hit the railway track near the Baloch Colony bridge area of Karachi, reports and officials said. Train service to other parts of the country from Karachi was suspended. Railway tracks were also blown up in two bomb blasts near Hyderabad and the explosion took place in other main city Nawabshah.No one was hurt in these blasts. Explosions in all three cities occurred within minutes of each other and appear to be a coordinated attack, local media reported.

#4: Also late Thursday night, unidentified men fired rockets on a train in southwestern Balochistan province and injured its driver and damaging its engine, officials said.


DoD: Spc. Nathan B. Carse

War News for Thursday, February 10, 2011

The British MoD is reporting the deaths of two British ISAF soldiers from a small arms fire attack in the Nad 'Ali district, Helmand province, Afghanistan on Wednesday, February 9th. News reports that at least one additional soldier was wounded in the attack. note these are from the ISAF release posted yesterday.


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: An Iraqi policeman and two civilians have been injured in an improvised explosive charge (IED) blast in northern Baghdad on Wednesday night, a Baghdad security source said. "An IED, targeted against a police patrol in northern Baghdad's al-Suleikh district, blew up on Wednesday night, wounding a policeman and two civilians, who were close to the venue of the attack that caused material damage to nearby areas," the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency on Thursday.

#2: The body of a man who had been tortured and shot was found in the Shaab district of northern Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.


Diyala Prv:
#1: Four persons have been injured in an armed attack on the Mayor's house of Buhriz town in northeastern Iraq's Diala Province on Wednesday night, a security source said on Thursday. "A group of armed men, carrying guns with silencers attached, attacked the residence of Buhriz town's Mayor, Hassan Alwan, 5 km to the south of Baaquba, the center of northeastern Iraq's Diala Province, on Wednesday night, wounding four of the Mayor's family members," the security source said. He also said that an explosive charge blew up on the main road, leading to the Mayor's residence, targeting at a police patrol, but without causing any injuries.


Nassiriya:
#1: Four rockets, targeting an Army base in southern Iraq's Nassiriya city, fell on the base on Wednesday night, but caused no human or material losses," the U.S. Army's Media Spokesman, Alan Brown said. "The four rockets, aimed at Imam Ali Base in Nassiriya, passed over the historic Ur Zigurrat. This act is considered a threat to the zigurrat," Brown told reporters, adding that one of the rockets fell on the Iraqi Air Force's 70th squadron, but caused no damage.


Dujail:
#1: A car bomb ripped through a Shiite Muslim procession just north of Baghdad on Thursday, killing at least six worshippers, a police officer said. Forty others were wounded in the attack, which struck on the outskirts of the mostly Shiite town of Dujail at 1:30 pm (1030 GMT), a police major said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Among the dead and injured were women and children, the officer said, without giving further details. The pilgrims were walking to the city of Samarra to commemorate the death of the 11th imam, Hassan al-Askari, at his gold-domed shrine in the majority-Sunni city.


Mosul:
#1: “An improvised explosive device was detonated on Wednesday targeting a police vehicle patrol in Sheikh Fateh region, western Mosul, injuring a policeman,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: “The second blast occurred in al-Zanjili region, targeting another police vehicle patrol, injuring a 14-year-old girl,” he said.

#3: A roadside bomb exploded near an Iraqi army patrol, wounding a soldier, in northern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.


Tal Afar:
#1: Two soldiers were killed and two more were wounded in a blast in north of Talafar, a security source said on Wednesday. "An improvised explosive device went off on Wednesday (Feb. 9) targeting an army vehicle patrol on Talafar-al-Ayadiya road, north of Talafar, killing two soldiers and injuring two more," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: Three Iraqi soldiers and an Army officer have been injured in an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blast in Falluja city in Western Iraq's Anbar Province on Wednesday, an Anbar security source said. "An IED blew up in east Falluja's Garma village, targetted against an Iraqi Army patrol, wounding four of its men, including an officer with a leautenant rank," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A suicide bomber linked to the Pakistani Taliban attacked soldiers during morning exercises at an army training camp in the northwest Thursday, killing 31 troops and wounding 42 others. There were conflicting accounts about the identity of the bomber. The army and police said he was a teenager in a school uniform, but the Pakistani Taliban claimed he was a soldier at the camp in Mardan town who volunteered for the attack. Senior police official Samad Khan said 31 soldiers died and 42 were wounded, some critically. The army, which tends to release information much slower, put the death toll in an earlier statement at 20. All of those killed were cadets except for one, who was a drill instructor, said the army.

#2: In North Waziristan on Thursday, the bullet-riddled bodies of two tribal police officials and a villager were discovered along an open road near the town of Mir Ali, a militant stronghold. A note attacked to the bodies accused them of acting as spies for the U.S., resident Asif Iqbal said. Intelligence officials said the three men had been kidnapped in January. Their bodies showed signs of torture, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media.

#3: A suicide bomber blew himself up inside a district chief's office in Afghanistan's northern Kunduz province Thursday, killing the official and two other people. The bomber was able to enter the office of Chahar Dara district chief Abdul Wahid Omarkhail by pretending to be looking for work, said provincial government spokesman Mabobullah Sayedi. The blast killed the chief along with a bodyguard and a village elder who was visiting at the time. Five others were wounded in the explosion, said Sayedi and the district chief of police, Gulam Mohyuddin.

#4: Militants on Thursday blew up the largest gas pipeline in southwestern Pakistan for a second time this week, again leaving tens of thousands of consumers without gas, officials said. “It was the major pipeline. Militants dynamited it overnight only a few hours after the authorities repaired it,” senior administration official Anwar Durrani told AFP in Balochistan province, which borders Iran and Afghanistan. The pipeline, which links the insurgency-hit province of Balochistan to gas reserves at Sui, was blown up on Tuesday and had been down until repair work was completed late Wednesday, officials said. Enayatullah Ismail, spokesman for the Sui Southern Gas Company, confirmed the fresh attack but said it would take another two days to restore supplies to 200,000 consumers in the province.

#5: Troops from the NATO-LED International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and Afghan forces killed a man who was identified as a Taliban militant, in Wardak province on Wednesday, ISAF said in a statement.


DoD: Sgt. Patrick R. Carroll