War News for Friday, December 14, 2011

Iraq's oil expansion plans face major challenges

The ghost of Saddam Hussein

Afghan Panel and U.S. Dispute War’s Toll on Property


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: A jeweler was killed and a civilian was wounded on Thursday by gunmen in western Baghdad, a police source said. “Unknown gunmen opened fire using guns with silencers on a jeweler in al-Sidiya region, western Baghdad, killing him instantly and wounding another civilian,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Basra:
#1: A total of 13 members of al-Qaeda armed group managed on Friday to escape from a detention center in Basra despite the tough security measures, according to a lawmaker from the National Alliance.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Gunmen stormed the house of a female police officer, killing her and four relatives, in an unusual attack in northwest Pakistan, police said Friday. The attack happened Thursday night in Hangu, a district just outside the tribal belt bordering Afghanistan.

#2: Also Friday, Afghan officials denied Pakistani claims that Afghan troops carried out a cross-border mortar attack that killed eight people in a Pakistani tribal region. NATO said its initial reports indicated foreign troops played no role, either. The mortar shells hit Tity Mada Khel village in North Waziristan, according to Pakistani intelligence officials. The dead included five men and three women, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. Eleven people were wounded.


DoD: Sgt. Omar Aceves.

DoD: Spc. Jarrid L. King

DoD: Pfc. Benjamin G. Moore

DMD: Konstabel Samuel Enig

War News for Thursday, December 13, 2011

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, January 12th.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an non-combat related injury in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, January 12th.


U.S. VP in Baghdad for talks with Iraqi leaders

Canadian casualties drop in Afghanistan - Just 86 soldiers were wounded in action in 2010 and 14 were killed, the Canadian Forces said. Another 331 suffered non-battle injuries.

Germany extends troops’ Afghan mandate

More dirty fish found in USAID


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: One of the explosions occurred in western Baghdad near a mosque where the interfaith group officials were meeting. Two people were wounded in that attack.

#2: Another explosion killed one civilian and wounded four others outside a Shiite mosque in central Baghdad.

#3: One more blast hit outside a Sunni mosque in northeastern Baghdad, wounding three people.
#4: Another explosion was near a Sunni Shrine in central Baghdad, and killed one civilian and wounded five others.


Irbil:
#1: Kurdistan’s Asayesh forces seized on Wednesday a big weapons depot in Arbil, Asayesh said in a statement.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: TRIBAL rebels blew up a gas pipeline in Pakistan's insurgency-hit southwestern province of Baluchistan, cutting supplies to several areas in cold weather, officials said. The pre-dawn blast today damaged the main pipe bringing gas from Jafarabad district to the provincial capital Quetta and five other districts, Sui Southern Gas Company spokesman Inayatullah Ismail said.

#2: A bomb in a marketplace in eastern Afghanistan killed a child on Thursday in part of the persistent violence across the country despite crackdowns on insurgent leaders, an official said. Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, a spokesman for Nangarhar province, said the blast occurred outside a music cassette shop in Jalalabad, the provincial capital 125 kilometers (77 miles) east of Kabul. Other civilians were injured, but were not taken to the hospital, he said.

#3: Eighteen people were killed and 15 wounded when a suicide bomber plowed his explosives-laden car into a police station in northwest Pakistan Wednesday, officials said. The bomber's car struck Miryan police station on the outskirts of the town of Bannu and badly damaged a nearby mosque. District police chief Mohammad Iftikhar told AFP most of those wounded were police officers and paramilitary personnel.

#4: A roadside bomb targeting police in northwest Pakistan killed one officer and wounded five others Thursday, close to the scene of a deadly suicide attack on security forces a day earlier. The officers were hit in their car while on patrol in the garrison town of Bannu, southwest of Peshawar city. One policeman has died and five others were wounded. It was a remote-controlled bomb," district police chief Mohammad Iftikhar told AFP by telephone.

War News for Wednesday, December 12, 2011

NATO is reporting the deaths of three ISAF soldiers from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, January 12th.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday, January 12th.


Danish soldier killed

Troops caused $100 million damage in Kandahar


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: A bicycle bomb was defused on Tuesday by anti-terrorism department in Baghdad. The bicycle bomb was targeting a marketplace in al-Kesra region in Baghdad, according to state-run al-Iraqiya channel.

#2: The Chairman of Iraq’s People’s Court, Judge Rashid Mishary, has been wounded in an assassination attempt close to his south Baghdad residence on Wednesday, a security source said. “An explosive charge blew off close to the residence of the Chief Justice of the People’s Court in Baghdad, Rashid Mishary, in southern Baghdad’s Daura district, causing him injuries,” the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#3: A roadside bomb in Sadr City, northern Baghdad, damaged a nearby barber shop. No casualties were reported.

#4: Security forces found the body of an unidentified woman with gunshot wounds in Bob Al Sham region.


Taji:
#1: “An explosive charge blew off on Wednesday morning against a civilian car, close to northwest Baghdad’s Taji district, killing its driver and completely destroying the car,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: He said that another explosive charge blew off close to a foodstuff market on the main highway passing through the area, wounding three persons, completely destroying the market and causing damage to a civilian car.


Mosul:
#1: An Iraqi security officer and an armed man have been killed in a clash between both sides west of north Iraq’s Mosul city, the center of Ninewa Province, a security source said on Wednesday. “A clash between a group of unknown armed men and a police patrol in west Mosul’s Dour al-Hamamil district on Wednesday, had killed a police officer and wounded a policeman,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency, adding that the clash had caused the killing of one of the armed men as well.”

#2: A roadside bomb killed a civilian in eastern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, an Iraqi army source said.

#3: Gunmen killed a civilian after chasing him from house to house in eastern Mosul, an Iraqi army source said. The victim was a former non-commissioned officer in Saddam Hussein's army, the source added.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: In Kabul, a suicide bomber on a motorbike blew himself up next to a minibus carrying intelligence service employees to work, killing four people, President Hamid Karzai's office said. The Interior Ministry said the blast wounded 32 people, including six intelligence service members - although it spoke of only two people killed - one intelligence service member and a civilian. The reason for the discrepancy was not immediately clear.

#2: About an hour later in the troubled eastern province of Kunar, a remote-controlled roadside bomb killed an intelligence service colonel and his driver, and wounded two bodyguards, said Abdul Saboor Allahyar, deputy chief of Kunar's provincial police. The Taliban claimed responsibility for both attacks.

#3: A suspected U.S. drone strike in Pakistan's tribal region killed four alleged militants on Wednesday, intelligence officials told CNN. Two intelligence officials said the suspected drone fired two missiles on a militant hideout in the area of Mir Ali of North Waziristan, one of the seven districts of Pakistan's volatile tribal region bordering Afghanistan.

#3: A bomb killed two Afghan civilians on Tuesday in the Posht-e-Rod district of western Farah province, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said.

#4: Foreign troops killed "several" insurgents on Tuesday during an operation in Andar district of Ghazni province, southwest of Kabul, ISAF said.

#5: ISAF troops killed two insurgents in southern Helmand province on Tuesday, ISAF said. One insurgent was killed in Sangin district and one in Musa Qala district.

#6: At least four people including two women were injured in two blasts that took place almost simultaneously Wednesday afternoon in Pakistan's northwest city of Peshawar, reported Urdu TV channel Dunya, adding that the reason of the blasts was not known.

War News for Tuesday, December 11, 2011

'Hit men kill 240 Iraqi officials'

BP Hits Output Milestone On Iraq Rumaila Oil Field

N Waziristan offensive: Plan put on hold for indefinite period


Reported security incidents

Iraq:
#1: Three Iraqi sailors were wounded and four others went missing due to an attack by Kuwaiti Coast Guards on an Iraqi boat that was drowned, Al Sindibad Iraqi Fishermen Association said. Kuwaiti Coast Guards detained two Iraqi sailors, the Association said denying reports saying that Iraqi sailors returned fire. Kuwaiti coast guards attacked the fishermen boat near Iraqi-Kuwaiti waters, head of the Association Aqil Rasoul told Alsumaria News. The Kuwaiti Interior Ministry released a statement, saying the radar system of the Coast Guard showed a target which was later discovered to be an Iraqi boat. The boat refused to stop when ordered by the guards, leaving no option but the use of force. A Kuwaiti coast guard on patrol was killed while trying to stop an Iraqi fishing boat in the Kuwaiti territorial waters, the interior ministry said.


Baghdad:
#1-2: Police and hospital officials in Baghdad say blasts in the capital wounded five people, including a university professor. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

#1: “An explosive charge blew off early on Tuesday in front of a house belonging to an employee of the Science & Technology Ministry in west Baghdad’s Ghazaliya district, wounding him and causing material damage to the house,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: He said that another explosive charge blew off close to a bridge in southern Baghdad’s Daura district, wounding four persons and causing damage to their car.

#3: Two roadside bombs exploded in front of a house in Baghdad's central Karrada district, wounding four passers-by, an Interior Ministry source said.

#4: Iraq Swat teams and unknown gunmen clashed in Al Amel District, southern Baghdad, a police source told Alsumaria News. Clashes erupted while Swat teams were carrying out a search and crackdown operation in Al Amel District, the source added.


Mahmoudiya:
#1: “Two explosive charges, planted on the roadside, blew up early in the day in Qasr al-Awsat district in southern Baghdad’s Mahmoudiya township, wounding 6 persons,” he said,


Latifiya:
#1: adding that a third explosive charge blew off in Latifiya area of Baghdad, wounding three civilians.


Taji:
#1: He also said that another charge blew off against a bus close to northern Baghdad’s Taji Gas Plant, wounding two persons, along with a sticking charge that blew off in central Baghdad’s Kasra area, wounding two persons.


Tikrit:
#1: An Iraqi policeman has been killed and another injured while trying to dismantle a booby-trapped car close to a secondary school north of Tikrit, the center of Salah al-Din Province, a police source said on Tuesday. “A booby-trapped car, parked close to an industrial secondary school in Shirgat township, 100 km to the north of Tikrit, blew up early on Tuesday, killing a policeman and wounding his colleague, who tried to dismantle the car,” the police source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Shurqat:
#1: Authorities say a car bomb has killed a policeman and wounded four others in a northern Iraqi town. Security officials say the bomb-rigged car exploded as a police patrol moved passed it Tuesday in the town of Shurqat, 155 miles (250 kilometers) northwest of Baghdad. Dr. Ahmed Mawlood of the town's hospital gave the casualty figures.


Mosul:
#1: One civilian was killed by gunmen in eastern Mosul on Monday, according to a police source. “Unknown gunmen shot and killed an ethnic Shabak civilian in al-Jazaer neighborhood, eastern Mosul,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency, noting that the gunmen killed the man while leaving his work.

#2: A Shabak civilian was killed in Mosul on Monday, the second incident of its kind in the city in the past few hours, a security source said. “A doctor, from the Shabak minority, was killed on Monday (Jan. 10) by gunmen inside his clinic in Adan neighborhood, eastern Mosul,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"


DoD: Pfc. Robert J. Near

War News for Monday, December 10, 2011

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, January 9th.


Mujahideen control 7 districts in Balkh province and the main road to Shubarghan: Mullah Abdul Karim

Afghans Strained by Shortages as Iran Tightens Flow of Fuel


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: Two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) have blown up close to a doctor’s house in central Baghdad’s Karrada district early on Monday, wounding several citizens, an eyewitness said. “An IED blew up in a car, parked in front of the house of a doctor and his doctor-wife, in central Baghdad’s Karrada district early on Monday, wounding a number of citizens,” they said, adding that the police had closed the area of the blast and began invistigation, giving no further details.


Diyala Prv:
#1: In the central city of Baquba, three siblings were injured when a bomb exploded in front of their house in the city centre, according to police.


Tuz Khurmato:
#1: A sticky bomb attached to a car wounded the driver and two passengers in the town of Tuz Khurmato, 170 km (105 miles) north of Baghdad, on Sunday, police and hospital sources said.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: Iraq police officer was killed Monday in a roadside bombing in which his motorcade appeared to have been targeted, police said.Mohamed Faisal, the chief of police in the city of Hit, in western Anbar Province, was killed and three people travelling with him were injured, according to police sources.Police have imposed a curfew on the city,



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A foreign force air raid in central Afghanistan may have killed three Afghan police and wounded three, the NATO-led force said on Monday, the third such incident in more than a month. Foreign troops on patrol in Daykundi province on Sunday called in an air strike after seeing nine people setting up what appeared to be an ambush, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said. It was later determined the raid may have targeted Afghan police, it said.

#2: In southern Kandahar's Spin Boldak town -- scene of the country's deadliest insurgent attack in nearly six months late last week -- a suicide bomber killed two policemen and a civilian, the Interior Ministry said. In southern Kandahar, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives as Afghan police surrounded his vehicle in Spin Boldak on Monday morning, killing two policemen and a civilian, the Interior Ministry said. The police had pursued the bomber after deciding his vehicle looked suspicious, it said. Police had earlier said three policemen had been killed

#3: A senior Taliban leader and 14 other militants have been killed in an Afghan-NATO operation targeting the militants in north Afghanistan. The coalition said in a statement on Monday that its forces, along with their Afghan counterparts, were searching for the Taliban leader identified as Mawlawi Zahir who was Taliban shadow governor for Khanabad district in Kunduz province, reported the Associated Press. The coalition said the troops attempted to draw the occupants out of the compound where the man was believed to be. When that failed, they entered the compound, a gunbattle ensued, and 14 militants were killed. Two other militants were also captured in the operation.

#4: 'Three civilians including a child were killed during a clash between coalition forces and militants in Helmand,' a statement issued by the provincial governor's office said. The fighting took place between international troops and Taliban militants in Helmand's Nad Ali district. The child died at the hospital due to injuries sustained during the fight,' the statement said, adding that it was not clear which side was responsible for the civilian casualties.

#5: Separately, two other civilians were killed and three others injured when militants fired a rocket into a civilian house in the same district Saturday, the statement said.


DoD: Lance Cpl. Joseph R. Giese

DoD: Sgt. 1st Class Robert W. Pharris

DoD: Spc. Christian J. Romig

DoD: Spc. Ethan C. Hardin

DoD: Pfc. Ira B. Laningham, IV

Caporal-chef de 1re classe (Master Cpl. 1st Class) Hervé Guinaud

News of the Day for Sunday, January 9, 2011

Reported Security Incidents

Tikrit

IED attack on a police convoy injures 3 policemen, including a captain, disrupting a celebration of the anniversary of the Iraqi police force.

Basra

Police free three abducted children, arrest their captors. No indication as to whether this incident was politically motivated.

Other News of the Day

Iraqi Parliament convenes, to hear address by Secretary of the Arab League Amr Moussa, in anticipation of an Arab summit to be held in Baghdad in March. This is seen as an important step toward reintegration of Iraq into the community of Arab nations.

If you didn't catch it yesterday, this AP account of Muqtada al-Sadr's address in Najaf on Saturday is worth reading. It puts al-Sadr in both contemporary and historical context. As always, he presents himself as a non-sectarian Iraqi nationalist, and a fierce opponent of the U.S. presence and influence.The truth about Sadrist involvement in sectarian violence, however, should not be forgotten. The extent of control he had personally over Sadrist associated militias, and the extent to which they acted reactively vs. pro-actively, is disputed, but his commitment to peaceful political action is clearly a conversion. -- C

Iran and Iraq are said to reach an agreement on joint exploitation of shared oil fields along their border. This has been a source of contention, including minor military posturing.

Iraq will purchase $26 billion worth of armaments from the U.S., $13 billion by 2013. So the U.S. doesn't get control of the oil fields, but does get a customer for its most important industry.

Afghanistan Update

Danish soldier killed by an IED in Helmand Province.

Three civilians, including a child, are killed during a firefight between ISAF and Taliban forces in Helmand. It is not clear which side's fire was responsible. Separately, two civilians were killed and three injured by a rocket said to be fired by insurgents.

Indian Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna issues a statement following talks with Afghan FM Zalmay Rasool during a two-day diplomatic visit to Kabul. He is scheduled to meet with Hamid Karzai later. In a more detailed summary of his remarks, it appears he is warning against excessive Pakistani influence in a possible resolution of the conflict. “Any external interference in the reintegration process would be detrimental to its success and for the future of democratic, stable, pluralistic and prosperous Afghanistan,” Mr. Krishna said.

A French soldier is killed in Afghanistan on Saturday, the French government confirms.

Quote of the Day

after 9/11, when General Musharraf chose to ally with the Americans in the "war on terror", it was a fundamental blunder. Overnight he turned the jihadi groups created to fight foreign occupation from supporters into enemies, people prepared to fight the Pakistani army because of its support for the US invasion. . . .

There is no military solution in Afghanistan, only dialogue, so the supreme irony is that in siding with the Americans all we have done is send the levels of violence up in Pakistan. The "war on terror" has weakened the state and then, thanks to the George Bush-sponsored National Reconciliation Ordinance in 2007, which allowed an amnesty for all the biggest political crooks, we now have the most corrupt government in our history. The "war on terror" is destroying Pakistan.

Imran Khan

War News for Saturday, December 08, 2011

Sadr exhorts Iraqis to resist US 'occupiers'

26th MEU will return to Afghanistan to hold the line

DOD Identifies Units for Upcoming Afghanistan Rotation

NATO to deploy AWACS in Afghanistan

In Wider War in Afghanistan, Survival Rate of Wounded Rises: - Nearly 5,500 American troops were wounded in action — more than double the total of 2,415 in 2009, and almost six times the number wounded in 2008. In all, fewer than 7.9 percent of the Americans wounded in 2010 died, down from more than 11 percent the previous year and 14.3 percent in 2008.


Reported security incidents

Amarra:
#1: The police found the unidentified body of a young man in central al-Amara city on Friday, a security source in Missan province said.


Nassiriya:
#1: Two people were killed and another wounded in a blast from an improvised explosive device (IED) emplaced inside a vehicle in southern al-Nasseriya city, a security source in Thi-Qar said on Friday. “The charge went off inside a vehicle owned by a former member of (Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr’s) Mahdi Army, used in carrying IEDs. The vehicle was parked in the garage of his house in al-Sikak neighborhood, southern Nasseriya, leaving him and his brother killed and another man wounded and causing severe damage to the house,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Taji:
#1: Unknown gunmen opened fire on Saturday morning on the convoy of head of Premiership anti-terrorism apparatus Major General Hatem Saadun in Al Taji District, northern Baghdad, a police source told Alsumaria News. Using muted weapons, unknown gunmen killed a security guard and seriously wounded another, the source said affirming that the Major General was not hurt.


Mosul:
#1: Two soldiers and a woman were wounded when an improvised explosive device (IED) went off near their private vehicle south of Mosul city on Friday, a local security source in Ninewa said. “The IED went off near the private vehicle of two Iraqi soldiers and a woman in Kunaytera village, Hammam al-Aleel district, south of Mosul, leaving them wounded,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: An Iraqi soldier has been injured in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast in Mosul city, the center of northern Iraq’s Ninewa Province on Friday night, a security source said. “An Iraqi soldier has been wounded tonight (Friday) in an IED blast close to an Iraqi Army’s checkpoint in eastern Mosul’s Dargazaliya district,” the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: In a clash between foreign forces and insurgents in Logar province on Friday four foreign soldiers were wounded and their interpreter was, provincial officials told TOLOnews. The incident happened in Charkh district of Logar province when a convoy of foreign forces passing by the area came under militants' attack, provincial official said. Meanwhile, Din Mohammad Darwish, a spokesman for governor of Logar confirmed the incident and said there was no report about anyone being wounded. Two insurgents have been killed in the incident, he added.

#2: At least six people including two police officers were injured in a blast that took place Friday evening at a market place in the city of Charsadda in Pakistan's northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, reported local Urdu TV channel Dunnya. According to the report, the blast took place at about 6:30 p.m. local time near a CD shop at the Umarzai Market in Charsadda, a city north of Peshawar, capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province.