Feb. 12 airpower summary:
Wanted US Marine commits suicide in Canada:
Battalion commander among 4 soldiers killed in Iraq: Nine colonels and 25 lieutenant colonels have died while supporting Operating Iraqi Freedom, according to information provided by Lt. Col. Nathan M. Banks Sr., Department of the Army spokesman. Eight of those colonels and 18 lieutenant colonels were in the Army. Of those 18 lieutenant colonels, 12 were killed by hostile action, Banks said.
Blast kills four Iranian police near Pakistan-radio:
Taliban is in "huge" amounts of Pakistan - Zardari:
6 civilians wounded in bomb attack in S Philippines:
Reported Security incidents:
Baghdad:
#1: Friday Three policemen were injured when gunmen threw a grenade targeting a police checkpoint in al Qahira neighborhood in east Baghdad around 5 p.m.
Al Midaan:
#1: An Iraqi police official says a mass grave has been found in a former Sunni insurgent stronghold north of Baghdad. The official says police found about 40 decomposing bodies Friday in the grave in al-Midaan village, 15 miles (25 kilometers) north of Baghdad. The official says police estimate the victims were killed in 2006, when many Sunni insurgents operated in the area around al-Midaan.
Samarra:
#1: Iraqi police found the bodies of two men just south of Samarra, 100 km (62 miles) north of Baghdad, police said. The men appeared to have been shot.
Irbil:
#1: A body of a woman on Saturday was found in northern Arbil city, according to a local police chief. “Today, police forces found a body of an unknown woman with gunshot wounds in Bastoura area (20 km north of Arbil)…,” a police chief in the city, Brig. Abdelkhaleq Talaat, told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
Mosul:
#1: Friday Three Iraqi army soldiers were wounded when unidentified gunmen opened fire at them in northern Mosul city on Friday, a source from Ninewa police said. “The gunmen threw a hand-grenade at an Iraqi army checkpoint in al-Qahira neighborhood, northern Mosul, leaving three soldiers injured,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
#2: Four soldiers were wounded when two mortar shells landed on a Quick Intervention Department company and a check point in eastern Mosul city on Friday, a military source said. “The first one landed on the headquarters of the QID while second landed on a checkpoint on al-Tahrir square, eastern Mosul,” the source said.
#3: An Iraqi serviceman on Saturday was wounded when an improvised explosive device (IED) went off in eastern Mosul city, according to an army source. “Today, an explosive charge targeted an Iraqi army patrol vehicle in Adan neighborhood, eastern Mosul, wounding one soldier,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
#4: “Meanwhile, another device detonated at the same time near an army patrol in al-Dhubbat neighborhood, eastern Mosul, causing no casualties,” the source added.
#5: A roadside bomb killed two civilians and wounded another four people, including one soldier, when it exploded near an army patrol in western Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.
Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: An American missile has struck a Taliban training complex in the lawless frontier region of Pakistan, killing 25 Central Asian fighters. The attack, launched by an unmanned drone near the Afghan border in South Waziristan province, was certain to heighten tensions between Pakistan and the United States. Most of the dead militants - believed to be linked to al-Qaeda - were Uzbeks, said a spokesman for the Taliban. "Our people have informed us that at least 25 people were killed. It could be more," said the spokesman.
#2: Suspected Taliban militants killed two policemen and injured three others in separate attacks in restive northwest Pakistan, officials said Saturday. An unknown number of militants ambushed a police patrol late Friday in Chamkani on the outskirts of provincial capital Peshawar, killing a police officer and injuring two others, police official Liaquat Khan told AFP.
#3:In a second incident a tribal policeman was killed and another injured when their checkpost was hit overnight by a rocket fired by suspected Taliban militants, a tribal official said. "One tribal policeman was killed and another injured in the rocket attack," said Bakhtiar Mohmand.
#4: Four Canadian soldiers and their Afghan interpreter were wounded early Saturday when their armoured vehicle was struck by an improvised explosive device buried in the road upon which they were travelling to the west of Kandahar City. Two of the Canadians, who were part of a routine supply convoy to a forward base at Masum Ghar, about 25 kilometres from Kandahar City, were taken by US Army medevac helicopter to the main Canadian base at Kandahar Airfield where they were listed in stable condition without life threatening injuries. A short gunfight involving Canadian and enemy forces followed the explosion.
#5: A bomb in Khost province on Saturday killed the chief government official in Nadir Shah Kot district, said Wazir Pacha, spokesman for the provincial police chief. Militants fired at the official's car after the explosion, he said. Three others riding in the car, including one of the official's sons, were wounded, Pacha said.
#6: Elsewhere in Khost, another roadside bomb killed three border police on Friday, said Sher Ahmad Kochi, a police commander.
#7: In the south, a third roadside bomb hit a police vehicle and killed four policemen on Friday in Kandahar province, provincial police Chief Matiullah Khan Qatah said.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
War News for Saturday, February 14, 2009
Friday, February 13, 2009
War News for Friday, February 13, 2009
CENTCOM is reporting the death of a Coalition service member from enemy-fire/small arms fire in Oruzgan province, Afghanistan on Thursday, February 12th. An Afghani soldier was wounded in the attack. At this time we believe this to be an American soldier.
Feb. 11 airpower summary:
The New Fallujah Still in Ruins:
Reported Security incidents:
Baghdad:
#1: Gunmen stormed the home of Thamir Yusuf, a defence ministry officer, and shot him and his son in the head in western Baghdad, police said.
Gunmen broke out the house of Brigadier General Thamir Yousif, an officer in the ministry of defense in al Jihad neighborhood in southwest Baghdad early morning killing him and his son.
#2: A truck driver run over a vehicle of the national police in Bob al Sham area north Baghdad killing tow policemen and injuring four.
Mussayib:
#1: A police official says an old mortar round has killed two children south of Iraq's capital. The official says the two boys, 10 and 15 years-old, were playing in the backyard of a farm house in Musayyib, about 40 miles (60 kilometers) south of Baghdad, when the mortar exploded Friday.
Iskandariya:
#1: A woman suicide bomber killed 32 Shiite pilgrims, mostly women, as she blew herself up in a crowd south of the Iraqi capital on Friday, security officials said. The interior ministry said another 55 people were wounded in the attack in Iskandiriyah, south of Baghdad, as pilgrims flocked to the holy city of Karbala for a major religious ceremony. Captain Mohammed al-Awadi of the police force in Babil province, of which Hilla is the capital, said the bomber had hidden her explosives under an abaya, the traditional head-to-toe black garment. She blew herself up among a crowd of women and children just after midday.
Irbil:
#1: The Iranian artillery on Friday shelled remote border regions in Arbil in northeastern Iraq, according to a governmental Kurdish source. “The Iranian artillery shelled border villages in Sidkan region in Souran district in northeast if Arbil, with no reports on casualties or damage,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq.
Mosul:
#1: Police forces found a female body in eastern Mosul city, said a police source on Friday. “Policemen Thursday night (Feb. 12) found a female body riddled with bullets in Qurtuba village in Baashieqa region in east of Mosul,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
#2: Gunmen shot and wounded a candidate for last month's provincial elections in central Mosul on Thursday, police said
Kurdistan:
#1: Thirteen Kurdish rebels were killed in Turkish air force raids last week on Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) camps in northern Iraq, a spokesman for the Turkish General Staff said Friday. The spokesman said a number of Turkish jets had carried out bombing missions during the week on suspected PKK logistic targets in the Hukurk region of mountainous northern Iraq.
Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A gunfight between Australian forces and Taliban fighters in southern Afghanistan killed five children who were caught in the crossfire, the Australian Defense Ministry said Friday. Thursday's fighting in southern Uruzgan province started with a raid by international and Afghan troops on compounds in a village where insurgent leaders were believed to be holed up, NATO said in a statement. The resulting gunbattle in Sar Morgharb village killed at least three children and wounded four other civilians, said Hamdan, the provincial governor. The Australian Defense Ministry confirmed the fighting, saying it had reports of five children killed and four other people wounded _ two of them children. Some of the wounded were taken to military medical facilities for treatment, it said in a statement. Provincial police chief Gen. Juma Gul Himat said he had reports of four children killed. The conflicting death tolls could not be resolved. One insurgent was also killed, the Australian statement said. No Australian troops were wounded.
#2: Friday a senior Defense Ministry official after storming his house in Baghdad's Jihad district. A security source in the Iraqi police told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) that unknown armed men attacked at eight o'clock in the morning the house of Brigadier Thamer Yosef, director of works at the Iraqi Defense Ministry, killing him along with his son before fleeing.
Casualty Reports:
Sgt. Jerrod Fields, 26, lost his lower left leg to an improvised explosive device in Baghdad.
British Corporal Debbie Caffull, 25, was in a five-vehicle patrol through a village in Iraq in November 2007 when a grenade was lobbed inside. The explosion left her showered in shrapnel from the blast. I got shrapnel in my arms, legs, back, neck and hand. "One soldier had some shrapnel go through a lung but was fine. "It's amazing no-one was killed or seriously injured."
staff sergeant Jay Wilkerson, 43, had to rely on tidbits from friends and fellow soldiers to piece together what happened three years ago, the day in Iraq when two rocket-propelled grenades killed his best friend and left him with traumatic brain injuries. Wilkerson needed six facial surgeries to reconstruct the left side of his face, which was damaged from the second rocket-propelled grenade that hit the Humvee in which he was riding March 2006. The blast robbed him of some vision in his left eye and left him with only 20 percent hearing in his left ear and injuries to his left hand. Wilkerson also went through two-and-a-half years of various therapies to relearn basic everyday tasks such as getting dressed in the mornings.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
War News for Thursday, February 12, 2009
The British MoD is reporting the death of a British soldier in a shooting incident at the Contingency Operating Base in Basra, Iraq on Thursday, February 12th.
Feb. 10 airpower summary:
Soldiers possibly exposed to chemicals:
Military struggles to track Afghans' weapons:
Iraqi parliamentarians demand reparations for 1981 Israeli attack:
Reported Security incidents:
Baghdad:
#1: An Iraqi woman working for the Philippine Embassy in Iraq was killed by unknown assailants inside her home last week, the Philippine government said today. Vergine Elias Jamil, a caretaker of the Philippine chancery since November 1985, was murdered on the night of Feb. 5 along with two other companions, it said in a statement.
#2: Iraqi army defused a roadside bomb in Zafaraniyah neighborhood in southeastern Baghdad around 11 a.m.
Diyala Prv:
Baquba:
#1: A roadside bomb detonated in Khan alNis in downtown Baquba around 11:15 a.m. The bomb was put inside the garbage. Three people were wounded including two rubbish collectors.
Al Saadiya:
#1: Iraqi security forces on Thursday found two unknown corpses in Diala province, a security source said. “The forces found the two bodies near al-Rabiyaa village in south of al-Saadiya district in Diala,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The bodies, belong to two young men; 18 and 25 years old, were sent to the morgue,” he added.
Khalis:
#1: Two civilians were killed and three others were wounded when a roadside bomb went off north of Baaquba city, a security source from Diala province said on Thursday. “The explosive charge targeted a civilian car in al-Idheem district of al-Khaliss suburb, 15 km north of Baaquba,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
Iskandariya:
#1: Policemen in Babel found the body of a civilian man in the northern part of the province on Thursday, a security source said. “The body, of a taxi cab driver, was found in an orchard in the in the district of al-Iskandariya, (50 km) north of Hilla city,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency, adding “the body showed signs of having been shot.” “Initial investigations showed that the man was killed after two unidentified gunmen stopped him for a ride on Tuesday (Feb. 10),” he said, noting the man’s family had reported him missing.
Diwaniya:
#1: The Diwaniya hospital on Thursday received an unknown body of a civilian man, said a medical source. “The hospital received an unknown body of a civilian in Ghamas region in west of Diwaniya,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency, noting that the man is believed to have choked to death.
#2: Five rockets hit a camp of U.S. forces west of Diwaniya, southern Iraq, according to a security source in the city with no reported casualties. “The attack targeted the ECHO camp, 3 km west of Diwaniya,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “Rockets were launched from the city’s al-Askari neighborhood,” he added. The source asserted that the rockets landed inside the camp, adding he had no information about casualties.
Karbala:
#1: At least 12 people were killed and some 30 others were wounded in a bomb explosion targeted Shiite pilgrims in the holy city of Karbala on Thursday, Iraqi local television reported.
Irbil/Sulaimaniyah:
#1: The Iranian artillery bombed the border villages in eastern Arbil and Sulaimaniyah on Wednesday night. No casualties or damage reported.
Kirkuk:
#1: Two civilians were injured on Wednesday night by unknown gunmen in central Kirkuk, a source from the joint coordination center said on Thursday. “Unknown armed men on Wednesday night (Feb. 11) opened fire at a house in al-Masli region in central Kirkuk, injuring a man and his wife, who was rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
#2: Police had confiscated 4 local made launchers in Wahid Huzairan ( the 1st of June) neighborhood when a missile was launched from it on Wednesday night.
#3: Police detonated a roadside bomb under control near Abu Alook cemetery in Kirkuk on Wednesday night. No casualties reported.
Mosul:
#1: A police official says a car bomb has killed four policemen and wounded three others in northern Iraq. The official says Thursday's attack targeted a police patrol in the city of Mosul and the wounded included one policeman and two civilians.
#2: Gunmen killed Abdul-Kareem al-Sherabi, a senior member of the Sunni Arab secularist party National Dialogue Front, in a drive-by shooting in Mosul, police said.
#3: Gunmen opened fire on Akram Khalaf, a candidate of the national movement for reform and development in Sarij Khana in Mosul in the afternoon. He was injured and transformed to hospital for treatment.
Al Anbar Prv:
Khaldiya:
#1: Gunmen killed a former army officer on Wednesday in the town of Khaldiya, 85 km (50 miles) west of Baghdad, police said.
Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A suicide bomber with explosives strapped to his body attacked the provincial police headquarters Thursday in south-eastern province of Paktika, killing one policeman, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. Ten other policemen were wounded in the attack in Shrena, the provincial capital, the statement said.
An elderly man, who appeared to have difficulty walking, blew himself up and killed a policeman who was helping him in Afghanistan on Thursday, a local official said. The suicide bombing happened outside the offices of the governor of the eastern province of Paktika. Police at the entrance to the governor's office were assisting the man, who had trouble walking, when he set off explosives strapped to his body, provincial spokesman Hameedullah Zohak told AFP. One policeman died and five were wounded, one critically, in the suicide blast, he said.
#2: Another suicide bomber attacked an Afghan army convoy Wednesday in the south-western province of Nimruz, killing one Afghan soldier and wounding two, the Defence Ministry said.
#3: A loud blast was heard in the east of the Afghan capital on Thursday, but the Defence Ministry said it was a controlled explosion carried out by the Afghan army.
#4: One officer was killed and another wounded when Taliban militants fired rockets at a police station in a tribal region of northwest Pakistan early Thursday, police said. The attack targeted the Shahbazkhel police station 70 kilometres (43 miles) east of Miranshah, the main town in the North Waziristan district bordering Afghanistan and a Taliban stronghold. "One policeman was killed and another injured when militants fired rockets at Shahbazkhel police station," local police official Noor Khan told AFP.
#5: Separately, a group claiming to be Taliban said that they fired four rockets overnight at a government compound near the western city of Herat. There were no casualties, officials said.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
War News for Wednesday, February 11, 2009
The DoD is reporting what appears to be a new death previously unreported by the military. Lance Cpl. Kevin T. Preach died from unreported wounds while supporting combat operations in Farah province, Afghanistan on Saturday, February 7th.
The French Defense ministry is reporting the death of a French ISAF soldier during an IED and small arms fire attack near the village of Deh-e-Manakah, 30 km south of Kabul, Logan province, Afghanistan on Wednesday, February 11th. Another French soldier was injured and an Afghani interpreter was wounded in the attack.
Feb. 9 airpower summary:
Iran’s foreign minister in Iraq for economic talks:
Iraq invites contractors to drill 40 oil wells:
Soldier who fled to Canada to avoid Iraq war surrenders to U.S. military police:
Taliban threaten attack on Islamabad: The local Taliban leadership has decided to send its fighters to Islamabad as a reaction to the operations in Darra Adamkhel and Swat Valley and in this regard chalkings on the walls of Islamabad are already appearing, forcing the Islamabad administration to whitewash these messages quickly. Many religious scholars in Islamabad have also received messages from the Taliban that they have only two options, either to support the Taliban or leave the capital or they will be considered collaborators of the “pro-American Zardari government” which, they claim, is not different from the previous Musharraf regime.
Air force chief shot dead: - The air force chief of Azerbaijan, an oil producing state in the fragile southern Caucasus region, was shot dead outside his home on Wednesday, officials said.
Mideast weather roundup:
Kyrgyzstan accuses U.S. of ignoring air base demands:
US dealing with Canada'sexit from war: (2011)
Reported Security incidents:
Baghdad:
#1: A roadside bomb explosion killed a Shiite pilgrim and wounded five others in southern Baghdad on Wednesday, an Interior Ministry source said. "An explosive charge went off near a group of Shiite pilgrims who were traveling on foot in Baghdad southern district of Zaafaraniyah on their way to the holy city of Karbala, some 110 km southwest of Baghdad," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
#2: Raad Hussein Abdullah, a senior engineer with the Electricity Ministry, was killed by armed men on Wednesday morning as he left his home in the Ghadir district of eastern Baghdad, the ministry said in a statement.
#3: A roadside bomb exploded near a car carrying a police brigadier-general, wounding his driver, in Ghazaliya district of western Baghdad, police said. The police officer was not hurt.
#4: Gunmen wounded three members of a U.S.-backed neighbourhood patrol check point on Tuesday in the Shaab district of northern Baghdad, police said.
#5: Gunmen in a car opened fire at a U.S.-backed neighbourhood patrol check point and wounded two of them in Doura district of southern Baghdad on Tuesday, police said.
#6: A roadside bomb wounded one Shi'ite pilgrim and wounded six others travelling in Baghdad toward the southern city of Kerbala to mark the religious Arbain holiday. The bomb, which exploded in Baghdad's northern district of Waziriya, also wounded six civilians in a minibus, police said.
#7: Five people were killed and 20 wounded on Wednesday when a bomb planted in a parked car exploded in southwestern Baghdad, Iraqi police said. The explosion took place in a bus terminal in the Bayaa neighbourhood, police said, adding that the death toll could rise.
The death toll from car bomb attacks in a southern Baghdad parking-lot on Wednesday, rose to 16and up to 43 people wounded, an Interior Ministry source said. "Our latest reports said that up to 16 people were killed and 43 others injured when two booby trapped cars detonated at about 3:30 p.m. (12:30 GMT) in a quick succession in Baghdad's Baiyaa parking-lot," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. Earlier the source said that a booby-trapped car detonated at the parking-lot and put the toll at five killed and some 20 others injured.
#8: Two civilians were injured by a roadside bomb in Mansour neighborhood in west Baghdad around 12 p.m.
#9: Around 1 p.m. a roadside bomb detonated in Waziriyah neighborhood in east Baghdad killing one civilian and injuring 12 six of them are pilgrims who were walking to Karbala province.
#10: Three civilians were injured when a roadside bomb detonated in Talbiyah neighborhood in east Baghdad around 7 p.m.
Diyala Prv:
Balad Ruz:
#1: A suspected al-Qaeda armed group killed a Sahwa fighter on Wednesday in south of Baaquba city, according to a police source. “An armed group believed to belong to al-Qaeda network on Wednesday (Feb. 11) attacked the house of a Sahwa fighter in al-Abara region in Bahraz, south of Baaquba, and showered him with bullets,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
Buhriz:
#1: Gunmen stormed a police officer's house in southern Buhriz, 60 km (35 miles) northeast of Baghdad, killing a two men guarding the home, police said. As police responded to the shooting, they were struck by a roadside bomb, which killed a policeman and wounded another.
Around 2 a.m. gunmen attacked with the machineguns the house of Captain Sallal al Timimi, an officer in Buhruz police station in south of Baquba city. One of the guards of al Timimi was killed in the attack. When the police patrols came to the area, a roadside bomb detonated killing one policeman.
Hilla:
#1: Two policemen were killed and three others were wounded on Wednesday when a roadside bomb went off at al-Askandariya district, north of Hilla city, said a source from the Babel police. “The bomb was planted at the main street of Hiteen residential compound of al-Askandariya district, 50 km north of Hilla,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The bomb targeted a convoy of Babel protection contingent,” he added.
Nesseriya:
#1: Police forces defused a heavy and highly explosive roadside bomb that was planted near a school in southern Nasseriya city, according to a release posted on the internet on Wednesday. “The explosive device consisted of mid-size oxygen tank with 750 gm of the C4 very explosive material inside it, linked to a trigger,” the release said. “The bomb that was planted near al-Kindi school in al-Iskan al-Sinaee neighborhood, southern Nasseriya, was removed without any casualties,” it added.
Tikrit:
#1: Three U.S. soldiers were wounded on Wednesday in Tikrit by unknown gunmen, said a police source. “Unidentified gunmen on Wednesday morning (Feb. 11) attacked a U.S. patrol of three vehicles on the main street in central Tikrit using hand grenades,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The attackers injured three U.S. soldiers and damaged a Hummer,” he also said.
Kirkuk:
#1: An Iraqi footballer was shot dead by an unknown assailant on Tuesday as he waited for a taxi to take him to his club, officials revealed. Ahmed Shallal, a 24-year-old player with Ath-Thawra Sport Club, was killed in Kirkuk, 255 kilometres north of the capital, Baghdad. "He was trying to rent a taxi near his house and an unknown person, accompanied by one or two others in a car shot him," said Sarhad Qadir, a senior police officer.
#2: “An explosive device went off on Wednesday afternoon (Feb. 11) on al-Kournish street near the Kirkuk games city in southern Kirkuk, targeting a police vehicle patrol without casualties,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
Mosul:
#1: A policeman and a civilian were wounded when a roadside bomb exploded near a police patrol in southern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.
#2: An improvised explosive device went off on Wednesday targeting the commander of al-Hamadaniya emergency police, a police source said, noting that the explosion left no casualties. “The explosion took place in Blawat region near al-Hamadaniya district in east of Mosul and caused no casualties,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
One civilian was killed in Hamdaniyah area north Mosul city by a roadside bomb that targeted the convoy of the commander of Hamdaniyah emergency battalion.
#3: An Iraqi army soldier was killed and three persons were wounded on Wednesday in a suicide car bomb explosion in northern Mosul, a security source said. “A suicide bomber blew up a car rigged with explosives on Wednesday (Feb. 11) targeting a joint patrol of Iraqi and U.S. troops in al-Hadbaa neighborhood in northern Mosul,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The blast killed an Iraqi soldier and injured three people, including another soldier,” he added.
At least one Iraqi soldier was killed and five people were injured in a suicide car bomb attack targeted a joint U.S. and Iraqi Army patrol in the volatile city of Mosul, a well-informed local police source said. "A suicide bomber drove his explosive-laden car into a joint U.S. and Iraqi Army patrol in the Hadbaa neighborhood in northern Mosul, " the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. The powerful blast resulted in the killing of an Iraqi soldier and the wounding of two others, along with wounding three bystanders, the source said. The source could not say whether the U.S. soldiers sustained any casualty as the troops sealed off the area preventing Iraqi security forces from approaching the scene. U.S. helicopters could be seen flying overhead, the source said.
#4: “The Azadi police managed to detonate a sticky bomb in Masli region in northern Mosul,” he added.
#5: Police found one unidentified body in Faisaliyah neighborhood in Mosul.
#6: One civilian was injured when a roadside bomb detonated in Mansour neighborhood south Mosul on Wednesday afternoon.
#7: A traffic police was injured when an insurgent threw a grenade targeting a police car in downtown Mosul on Wednesday afternoon.
A civilian was wounded when a militant threw a hand grenade at a police patrol in central Mosul, police said.
#8: Three policemen were killed when gunmen attacked their patrol in eastern Mosul, a source from Ninewa police said on Wednesday. “The armed men opened fire on the policemen’s patrol in al-Dargazliya neighborhood, eastern Mosul,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The gunmen were walking when they opened fire on the stationed police patrol, killing three of the patrol’s personnel,” he said. The source pointed out that the armed men were able to escape after launching the attack.
#9: An Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP) leader on Wednesday was killed by unknown gunmen in western Mosul, according to a local police source. “On Wednesday evening, unidentified gunmen assassinated Ahmed Fathi al-Jabouri, an IIP leader, in al-Islah al-Ziraie area, western Mosul,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “Jabouri was shot down while leaving al-Abadi mosque after performing the al-Maghrib (sunset) prayers. The gunmen shot him in the head before fleeing the scene,” the source added.
Al Anbar Prv:
Fallujah:
#1: The morgue in Anbar on Wednesday received the body of a university professor, who was shot down near Falluja, according to a local medic. “The body belongs to Izz al-Din Khalaf Ayyoub, a psychology professor in Anbar University,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “Ayyoub was shot down by unknown gunmen while he was leaving his house in al-Kartan area, al-Khalidiya district, on his way to the university,” the source explained.
Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A bomb killed a secular lawmaker and wounded six other people Wednesday in a Pakistani city close to the Afghan border increasingly under attack by Islamist militants. The bombing in Peshawar in northwest Pakistan took place as U.S. envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke visited the city, local TV reports said. Police said it appeared the bomb was hidden in a motorcycle and was detonated by remote control when a vehicle carrying Awami National Party lawmaker Alam Zeb Khan passed by. The lawmaker, his body guard and two of his staff were hit by the blast along with three passers-by, said police officer Hamid Khan. The lawmaker later died at a hospital, said Wajid Ali Khan, a minister in the provincial government.
AFP: Taliban assaults on government kill 26 in Kabul:
#2-#3: Taliban fighters, carrying assault rifles and wearing suicide vests, stormed the Justice Ministry and another government building in Afghanistan's capital Wednesday, forcing workers to flee from windows, according to government officials and a Taliban spokesman. Nineteen people were killed in the assault. Eight assailants also died in the attacks, said Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi, bringing to 27 the total deaths. Azimi said all eight attackers had suicide vests, but only three assailants set them off.
#2: Five men armed with assault rifles and grenades attacked the Justice Ministry in late morning - and they appeared to control it for at least a short period. But by midday, about two hours after the attacks began, Afghan security forces waved from windows in an apparent all-clear sign, according to an AP reporter on the scene. All five attackers were killed in a shootout with security forces.
#3: Another two men blew themselves up at the ministry's correction department in northern Kabul, Azimi said.
#4: In a third incident near the Education Ministry, police shot dead another attacker, said police officer Zulmay Khan. No one else was reported to have been killed at that scene and it was unclear if he was targeting the Education Ministry, which is very close to the Justice Ministry.
#5: Taliban militants fired a mortar bomb that hit a house in the Bajaur region near the Afghan border, killing a boy and wounding three women, a government official said.
#6: Two roadside bomb blasts claimed the lives of over a dozen guards of a local road construction firm in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province on Wednesday. "The tragedy occurred on a road between Helmand's provincial capital Lashkargah and Marja district when two mines planted by militants struck two vehicles of the company killing 14 guards, all Afghans," a police officer in Lashkargah told Xinhua but refused to be identified.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
War News for Tuesday, February 10, 2009
The Washington Post is reporting the deaths of two ISAF soldiers in a roadside bomb attack in Khost province, Afghanistan on Tuesday, February 10th. One additional soldier was wounded in the attack. Here's the NATO release.
NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from a non-combat vehicle accident in an undisclosed location in Afghanistan on Tuesday, February 10th. Four additional soldiers were injured in the accident.
Feb. 8 airpower summary:
Obama reviewing ban on photos of military coffins:
US envoy explores new approach on Pakistan:
Bush, Cheney Should Pay Impoverished Iraq War Widows:
NPR: Iraqi Insurgent Continues Fight Against U.S. Troops: Listen to it here:
Media group asks US to stop detaining journalists: A media watchdog group is urging President Barack Obama to end the U.S. military's practice of detaining journalists without charges, and has asked for a full investigation into killings of journalists by U.S. military forces.
Reported Security incidents:
Baghdad:
#1: A bomb attached to a car carrying an off-duty security guard of Vice President Adel Abdul-Mahdi wounded him and a pedestrian, police said. Reuters Television footage showed the badly wounded guard lying motionless. Eye witnesses said he died but police did not confirm that.
A bomb attached to a car carrying an off-duty security guard wounded him and a pedestrian, police said. Reuters Television footage showed the badly wounded guard lying motionless. Eye witnesses said he died but police did not confirm that. Police initially said the guard worked for Vice President Adel Abdul-Mehdi's office, but the vice president's office said he worked for another branch of government.
#2: Two mortars hit Mashtal neighborhood in eastern Baghdad around 9:15 p.m. One of the mortars hit a house in al-Mutabagh street near Khalid bin al-Waleed school. One person was killed and four others were wounded.
Diyala Prv:
Khalis:
#1: A policeman was killed and four others were wounded on Tuesday in a bomb explosion in the north of Baaquba, a security source said. “An improvised explosive device went off on Tuesday (Feb. 10) in front of al-Azeem region police station in Khalis, north of Baaquba,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The explosion killed a policeman and injured four others,” he added.
Makhmour:
#1: Two civilians on Tuesday were wounded in an armed attack by gunmen near Makhmour district, according to an army source. “Today, two civilians were wounded in an armed attack by unknown gunmen driving a civilian vehicle near Dozanti village (27 km southwest of Makhmour),” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
Kirkuk:
#1: An improvised explosive device (IED) on Tuesday went off in southern Kirkuk city, causing no casualties, an assistant police chief said, adding that another device was defused in the same area. “The charge detonated in Wahad Athar neighborhood, southern Kirkuk, causing damage but no casualties,” Lt. Col. Kamel Ahmed told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. Meanwhile, another explosive charge found close to the first device was defused by police forces, the official said, noting that no damage was reported.
#2: A football player was killed on Tuesday by unknown gunmen in southern Kirkuk, a local police chief said. “Unknown gunmen shot and killed Ahmad Shalal, a football player for al-Thawra club, on Tuesday afternoon (Feb. 10) in al-Asra Wal Mafqodeen neighborhood in southern Kirkuk,” Brig. Sarhad Qader told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
Mosul:
#1: A car bomb targeting a police patrol wounded three policemen in southern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.
#2: An improvised explosive device went off on Tuesday in eastern Mosul, without leaving casualties, a police source said. “An explosive charge was detonated targeting a motorcade of employees from the support committee in al-Nabi Younis region in eastern Mosul, causing material damage to one vehicle, but left no casualties,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
#3: Police forces on Tuesday found a civilian body in eastern Mosul, said a police source. “The forces found the body in al-Faisaliya region in eastern Mosul,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The body bore signs of gunshot wounds to the head and the chest,” he added.
#4: Gunmen opened fire on a police check point in Karama neighborhood in Mosul. Two policemen were killed including a lieutenant.
Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Pakistani troops backed by helicopter gunships killed 11 rebels and pounded suspected militant hideouts in a tribal town on the Afghan border, the military said Tuesday. The operation was launched Monday in Inayat Killi town in the Bajaur region, a stronghold of Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants, after a rebel rocket attack, local military official Mustaqim Shah told AFP. The rocket attack gutted a shop but caused no casualties, he said. "Troops backed by helicopters retaliated with artillery and mortar fire, and destroyed several suspected locations today. At least seven militants were killed," the official said.
Monday, February 9, 2009
War News for Monday, February 09, 2009
MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Multi-National Division - Baghdad soldier from a non-combat related incident in an undisclosed location in Iraq on Sunday, February 8th.
IC Publications is reporting the deaths of four American soldiers in a suicide car bombing attack in Mosul, Iraq on Monday February 9th. An Iraqi interpreter was also killed in the attack.
Feb. 6 Airpower Summary:
Feb. 7 Airpower Summary:
Iraq's roads wear on military vehicles:
40,000 Iraq security personnel to protect pilgrims:
4 Iraqis moved from Guantanamo to Iraq:
Suicide Bomber Kills 23 in Sri Lanka:
A Military Tactician's Political Strategy:
Reported Security incidents:
Baghdad:
#1: Seven people were wounded on Sunday night when a mortar round landed in a courtyard in the Kadhimiya district of northwestern Baghdad, police said.
Diwaniya:
#1: An 8-year-old Iraqi girl was killed and several others were wounded when gunfire from a US military convoy struck a crowd of Sh'iite pilgrims traveling to the holy city of Karbala, witnesses and Iraqi officials said. The US military confirmed that there had been an accidental discharge of a weapon and that it had reports of two people wounded in Diwaniya, the area in central Iraq where the shooting took place Saturday. It said it was starting an investigation.
Kirkuk:
#1: A policeman was wounded by a roadside bomb which targeted a police patrol in Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.
Mosul:
#1: U.S. forces killed a man on Sunday when he threw a grenade at their patrol in Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.
#2: Gunmen in a speeding car shot dead a taxi driver on Sunday in Mosul, police said.
#3: A roadside bomb wounded two children in eastern Mosul on Sunday, police said.
#4: Three persons, including two cops, on Monday were wounded in a car bomb explosion in western Mosul city, according to a local source. “A suicide car bomber detonated his car near an American patrol in Mosul al-Jadida area, western Mosul, wounding three persons, including two policemen,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The policemen were manning a checkpoint close to the scene of the blast,” the source explained.
A suicide car bomber targeted an American patrol in the New Mosul neighborhood (west Mosul) around 12:40 p.m. Three people were wounded included two policemen who were at a check point at the scene.
#5: Police said they found the body of a 16 year-old teenage girl from the Yazidi religious minority, slain in northern Mosul.
Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: An Air Force MQ-1 Predator unmanned aircraft crashed in southern Afghanistan Feb. 8 at approx 11:35 a.m. local time. The aircraft is a medium-altitude, long-endurance, remotely piloted aircraft. The MQ-1's primary mission is conducting armed reconnaissance.
#2: A roadside bomb ripped through a police vehicle in Khogyani district, near the border with Pakistan, killing two police and wounding three civilians, said Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, spokesman for the provincial governor.
#3: A suicide bomber attacked a group of Afghan soldiers Sunday in southwestern Nimroz province, killing one soldier and two civilians, Gov. Ghulam Dastagir Azad said.
#4: A Pakistani Taliban commander and key aide to tribal warlord Baitullah Mehsud was wounded on Monday in a bomb attack that killed his driver near the Afghan border, officials said. A remote-controlled bomb exploded by the side of a road in the Tanga area of South Waziristan, a semi-autonomous tribal district, when Noor Syed Mehsud was passing in a vehicle en route to Jandola village. "According to reports received here Mehsud was slightly injured, while his driver died in the bomb blast," a security official in Wana, the main town of South Waziristan, said.
#5: Media reports claimed on Monday that Simon Paramanathan, an Indian worker kidnapped in Afghanistan, has been killed by his abductors, the Taliban. Paramanathan, who was working in the Herat province, was abducted in October last year.
#6: Eighteen policemen were injured in a suicide attack on a police checkpoint in Bannu on Monday. According to police sources, a suicide bomber exploded his car at Baranpul police checkpoint on Miranshah road that damaged the building of the checkpost. Eighteen including 16 FC officials and two policemen were injured in the attack The injured were shifted to district hospital Bannu. DSP Tahir Dawar has confirmed that 11 officials sustained injuries. He said security has been tightened after the blast.
#7: A driver was killed and his cleaner injured in firing on NATO trailer between Khuzdar and Surab Sunday. According to details, a trailer was carrying goods for NATO forces in Kandahar from Karachi today. Unknown persons opened fire on the trailer near Lakhorian about 50 Km from Khuzdar. Bullets shattered windowpanes of the trailer. Driver Sawar Khan was killed and cleaner Azam sustained injuries. He was removed to Khuzdar where he was admitted for treatment.
#8: Two civilians were wounded after NATO-led troops responded with air strikes to an insurgent ambush in southern Afghanistan on Saturday. It was not clear who was responsible for the wounds, the NATO-led force said.
#9: Afghan police assisted by U.S.-led coalition troops killed a suspected mid-level Taliban commander after a raid on his house in Washir district, some 590 km (365 miles) southwest of Kabul on Saturday. The suspect fled the building and fired on the patrol which then killed him and detained four others, the U.S. military said in a statement.
#10: Pakistani Taliban militants in North Waziristan killed a man they accused of being a U.S. spy and dumped his body by the side of a road near the Afghan border, residents and a government official said. A note left with the body warned that other spies would face the same fate.
#11: 13 tribesmen were killed Monday when a house was hit by rocket shells in northwestern Pakistan, according to the private Dawn TV. Dawn TV quoted official sources as saying that the incident occurred at the Dera Adam Khel tribal town in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP).
Casualty Reports:
Canadian Adam Boutilier, 29, sustained two fractured legs when the light armoured vehicle he was travelling in hit a roadside bomb last week. Boutilier says her son is "doing great," despite having both of his legs fractured and a heel crushed in the explosion.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
News of the Day for Sunday, February 8, 2009
(AP Photo/Karim Kadim)
Reported Security Incidents
Note: I have had to rely unusually heavily on VoI for today's security news. It seems that the corporate media have decided that Iraq is now peaceful, so they aren't going to bother to report on violence. Literally none of today's violence has been reported so far in western media, as far as I can tell, with the exception of the single Reuters story from Baghdad. Today was, in fact, quite a violent day in Iraq. -- C
Baghdad
Roadside bomb in northern Baghdad kills 2, injures 11. The victims were pilgrims on their way to Karbala for Arbain. The location, casualty toll and other details in this report leads me to conclude that it is not the same as any of the incidents reported by VoI below. but sometimes these details differ and are later reconciled. -- C
Sticky bomb in Mansour injure 4 civilians.
Bomb in al-Qahira, eastern Baghdad, kills 1 civilian and injures 14.
IED attack in central Baghdad injures 2.
Afak, Diwayniya Province
An Iraqi woman dies after being shot by U.S. troops on Saturday. The U.S. is describing the shooting as "unitentional," and questioning whether the victims injuries in fact are connected with their being shot. From VoI:
“The woman who was shot in random fire by a U.S. patrol in the district of Afak died today (Feb. 8) of her wounds,” Col. Asaad Malek, the director of the Diwaniya Operations Room’s Joint Coordination Center, told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. Earlier today, the U.S. army in Iraq admitted wounding two civilians when a U.S. patrol opened fire “unintentionally” east of Diwaniya province.
“A U.S. vehicle patrol traveling southeast near Afak was conducting a logistics convoy when a weapon was unintentionally discharged,” according to a U.S. army release received by Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “Two local nationals were reported to have suffered injuries in the area and were transported for medical treatment. It’s unclear whether the weapons discharge and injuries are directly connected,” it added."
DPA reports that the victims were Shiite pilgrims.
Mosul
IED attack on a police patrol damages the vehicle but causes no casualties.
Sinjar, west of Mosul
Men in military uniform attack the village of Nawfali, kill one policemen, kidnap another and his father.
Kanaan, east of Baquba
Lawyer Ali al-Karkhi, who had been an election monitor, is assassinated on the street in a "hail of bullets."
Other News of the Day
Guantanmo prisoner Hassan Abdul Hadi, who the U.S. says it repatriated to Iraq weeks ago, has disappeared. And clearly, he was nothing more than an ordinary Iraqi soldier who was selected more or less at random to be labeled a terrorist -- C Excerpt:
A U.S. defence official said Hadi and three other Iraqis being held at Guantanamo, deplored by rights groups and foreign governments as a violation of international legal standards, were handed over to Iraq's Justice Ministry on Jan. 17. Yet Bushu Ibrahim, Iraq's deputy justice minister, told Reuters the ministry had no knowledge of the detainees. Extensive efforts to find someone in the defence and interior ministries who knew of their fate also proved fruitless.
Hadi's path to Guantanamo began in August 1998, when he left his family's home near Basra to join an Iraqi army unit up north. His family became worried when they didn't hear from him. "We asked about him extensively, but in vain. The last thing we heard was that he had gone into a mine field in Kurdish territory," his father told Reuters in a visit to his home. "We are a poor family. Even putting a meal on the table is a battle. I certainly did not have the money to travel to find my missing son," he said, surrounded by threadbare furniture.
After Saddam Hussein was toppled in the U.S.-led invasion of 2003, Hadi's parents anxiously waited for news, hoping he had been held by autonomous Kurds and would be released. No news emerged until April 2004, when a message arrived from Red Cross officials in Basra: Hadi was in Guantanamo Bay, established by the Bush administration to hold Taliban and al Qaeda suspects after the Sept. 11 attacks.
"I couldn't believe them. What the hell was he doing there?" Hadi's father asked himself. According to a Pentagon list released in 2006, Hassan Abdul Said, born in Basra in 1976, was detainee No. 435 at Guantanamo. U.S. Defence Department documents allege he was part of the anti-Saddam resistance in Iraq and was later associated with the hardline Islamist Taliban in Afghanistan. The allegations could not be confirmed, and Hadi was never charged with a crime. It is unusual for Iraqis of the Shi'ite Muslim sect to join up with Sunni Islamist extremists like al Qaeda or the Taliban.
Mehdi al-Tamimi, head of Iraq's human rights office in Basra, who has been following Hadi's case, said he had no knowledge of him being returned to Iraq.
Outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease threatens livestock in Basra province. It is difficult for local authorities to take measures to control the disease in remote areas.
Trial date for Muntadhar Al-Zeidi, who threw his shoes at a high U.S. official, is set for Feb. 19.
AP's Sebastian Abbot discusses simmering ethnic tensions over Kirkuk. This may be even more worrisome than the continuing multi-factorial guerrilla warfare in Iraq, because it threatens a clash of well-equipped national armies. -- C Excerpt:
The prime minister of Iraq's Kurdish region accused the Arab-dominated national government yesterday of trying to use troops to seize control of the disputed city of Kirkuk, escalating tensions. U.S. officials consider the growing rift between Iraqi Kurds and the Arab leadership in Baghdad as one of the major threats to Iraq's stability as President Barack Obama maps a plan to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq.
Kurdish officials are close U.S. allies who have jealously guarded their self-governing territory in the north since the U.S. helped set it up in 1991. In recent months, they have stepped up their criticism of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, accusing him of trying to re-establish a strong centralized state similar to Saddam Hussein's regime.
Tempers flared again about two weeks ago when troops of the Iraqi army's 12th Division moved from their base north of Kirkuk to towns around the city close to where Kurdish fighters loyal to the Kurdish regional government were deployed, according to senior Kurdish official Jabbar Yawar.
Kirkuk is not part of the Kurdish self-governing region and is under the political control of the central government, but the Kurds have long demanded that the city 180 miles north of Baghdad be incorporated into their self-governing region.
Yawar said the Kurds appealed to the U.S. military to stop the movements of the largely Arab troop contingent. Although the troop movements were halted, Kurdish officials remain suspicious about al-Maliki's intentions. "We in the (Kurdish government) consider this to be a provocative act," Kurdish regional Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani said of the troop movements in an e-mail.
Sadrist candidates dispute results of provincial elections, among other complainants. AP's Hamid Ahmed reports. Excerpt:
Candidates endorsed by anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr will appeal the results of last weekend's election results in Baghdad and other Iraqi provinces because of alleged voting irregularities, a spokesman said yesterday.
The allegations are among a chorus of questions raised by Shi'ite religious parties and Sunnis about the outcome of provincial elections, in which allies of Shi'ite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki won a sweeping victory.
"There are huge differences between results announced by the electoral commission and the figures we have from our observers in some provinces," said Tahir al-Kinani, spokesman for one of two candidate lists backed by Sadr. Kinani told reporters at a news conference that the candidates were appealing the results in the provinces of Baghdad, Najaf, Maysan, and Qadisiyah.
Afghanistan Update
Two U.S. soldiers killed attempting to defuse a bomb in Helmand Province. An Afghan translator and police officer are also killed.
President Karzai calls for reconciliation with Taliban elements who are not connected with al Qaeda.
Taliban assassinate three high-ranking provincial officials on Saturday, two in Nangarhar and one in Laghman.
Quote of the Day
Note: This is from a radical libertarian, with whom I disagree about many issues, but I respect his consistency and integrity. -- C
After the WMDs failed to materialize, American Christians had an option: They could have called for the immediate withdrawal of all U.S. troops. Instead, they did the exact opposite. They supported the continued occupation of Iraq, with full knowledge that U.S. troops would have to continue killing Iraqis in order to solidify the occupation.
That’s when Christians began supporting a new rationale for killing Iraqis: that any Iraqi who resisted the U.S. invasion or occupation was a terrorist and, therefore, okay to kill. Since terrorists were bad people, the argument went, it was okay to support the killing of Iraqis who were resisting the invasion and occupation of their country.
Yet, rarely would any Christian ask himself the important, soul-searching questions: Why didn’t Iraqis have the moral right to resist the invasion and occupation of their country, especially if that invasion and occupation had been based on a bogus principle (i.e., the WMD threat)? Why did their resistance convert them into terrorists? Why did U.S. troops have the moral and religious right to kill people who were defending their country from invasion and occupation?
Jacob Hornberger
