War News for Thursday, April 07, 2011

The DoD is reporting a new death previously unreported by the military. Spc. Gary L. Nelson III died from a non-combat related incident in Mosul, Iraq on Tuesday, April 5th.

NATO is reporting the deaths of two ISAF soldiers from a friendly fire incident in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday, April 6th.


Lack of mine maps hampers demining efforts in Iraq

Total Iraqi Oil Reserves Now Around 173 Billion Bbl: Shahristani

Gates: Some US troops may stay if Iraq wants


Reported security incidents


Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Six Afghan security personnel and four Taliban fighters were killed Thursday in a multipronged assault on a police training site in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar, officials said. A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-filled vest at the gate of the training site on the eastern outskirts of the provincial capital, also called Kandahar, said a police official at the scene. Zalmai Ayoubi, spokesman for the provincial governor, said two other militants occupied an empty adjacent building under construction and began firing on the police compound. As security personnel attempted to enter the building, a fourth militant detonated an explosives-filled ambulance close to the soldiers and policemen who had surrounded the building, Ayoubi said.

#2: Finnish troops came under fire in the Qush Tepal region in northern Afghanistan on Wednesday evening, but according to a statement by the Finnish Defence Forces no one was injured during the attack. The Finnish soldiers came under small arms fire, which they returned.

#3: A suicide bomber rammed a car packed with explosives into the house of a senior police officer in the southwestern city of Quetta, killing at least one man and wounding four people, including two children, police said.


DoD: Staff Sgt. Quadi S. Hudgins

DoD: Sgt. Christian A. S. Garcia

DoD: Spc. Gary L. Nelson III

War News for Wednesday, April 06, 2011

MNF-Iraq (OND) is reporting the death of a U.S. soldier in a non-hostile incident in an undisclosed location in central Iraq on Monday, April 4th.

The Polish defense ministry is reporting the death of a Polish ISAF soldier from an unknown causes, presumably non-combat related, at a base in Ghazni, Afghanistan on Monday, April 4th.


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: Two roadside bombs exploded in quick succession, killing two people and wounding six others, in northern Baghdad, Al Shalijiah region, a security source said.

Iraqi officials say a pair of roadside bombs in northern Baghdad have killed three people and wounded 11. A Baghdad policeman says the explosions took place only minutes apart late on Tuesday in the capital’s Shiite-dominated Utaifiya neighborhood. He says the bombs were planted about 200 yards (meters) away from a cafe and a Shiite mosque.

#2: An employee in the Nationality Directorate affiliated to the Ministry of Interior was killed during a silent guns attack in Zayouna region.


Jarf al sakhr:
#1: In Babel an Awakening Council member was killed and another one was wounded when two explosives 50 meters apart blasted in Abed Wais region in Jarf Al Sakhr North of the Province.


Baaj:
#1: A suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest killed three people and wounded seven others, when he struck at a car market in Baaj west Mosul.


Mosul:
#1: Moreover, a policeman was killed in an armed attack in Mahlabiah west Mosul. In Mosul too.

#3: in Sinaat Al Sahel Al Aysar region, armed men with silent guns killed a goldsmith.

#4: Police forces found on Tuesday a body of a civilian, who had been kidnapped, a few days ago, in west of Mosul, a security source said. “Policemen found on Tuesday evening a bullet-riddled body in Talabta district, west of Mosul,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The body belongs to a 30-year-old civilian man, who had been kidnapped last March 29 in Owienat region, northwest of Mosul,” he added.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Police say gunmen have torched two NATO oil tankers in southwestern Pakistan as they traveled to Afghanistan. Police official Aziz Ahmad said the attack happened Wednesday in the district of Bolan in southwestern Baluchistan province.

#2: British troops killed an Afghan woman and wounded a woman and a child in a car accident in Kabul on Wednesday, a spokesman for the Kabul police chief said, adding that initial reports a man had been shot dead at the scene were wrong. Spokesman Hashmat Stanekzai said information he had initially given out, that two women and a man had been killed, was the result of miscommunication between security forces.

#3: NATO forces killed seven insurgents who tried to storm their way onto a base in eastern Afghanistan, the coalition said Wednesday. NATO said the attack was carried out late Tuesday in the city of Jalalabad by insurgents firing assault rifles and rocket propelled grenades. A statement from the coalition added that NATO forces returned fire and called in an attack helicopter. It said there were no coalition casualties; there were no further details on the killed insurgents.

#4: Police say four boys were killed while playing with an abandoned explosive device that went off in northwest Pakistan. The children were playing near a pond in the garrison town of Kohat with what officials describe as a ”shell” apparently from a mortar. Senior government official Khalid Khan Umarzai says Wednesday’s blast appeared to be an accident.

DoD: 1st Lt. Robert F. Welch III

DoD: Sgt. Jorge A. Scatliffe

DoD: Capt. Wesley J. Hinkley

DoD: Sgt. Scott H. Burgess

DoD: Sgt. Michael S. Lammerts

P/MOD: Jubior Warrant Officer Bartosz Spychała

War News for Tuesday, April 05, 2011

MNF-Iraq (OND) is reporting the death of a U.S. soldier in a non-hostile incident in an undisclosed location in northern Iraq on Sunday, April 3rd.


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: A policeman was wounded on Monday night in a bombing on the highway near Um Al Qora Mosque, western Baghdad, a police source told Alsumaria News.

#2: He said that an explosive charge blew off against a police patrol in west Baghdad’s Iskan district, wounding three policemen and a civilian, who happened to be close to the venue of the blast,” the security source said.

#3: Two policemen and one civilian were wounded when a roadside bomb exploded in the west-central district of Mansour, a Ministry of Interior said.


Yousifiyah:
#1: Gunmen killed six people sleeping in their home in an area south of Baghdad that remains an al-Qaida stronghold, Iraqi police said Tuesday. Two officials said the gunmen fled without being captured late Monday after shooting members of two families who were living together in the town of Youssifiyah, 12 miles (20 kilometres) south of Baghdad. One Interior Ministry official said the dead included a local policeman and a member of the Sahwa, or Sons of Iraq — the Sunni militia that battled al-Qaida at the peak of the war.


Jurf al sakhar:
#1: Five members of the government-backed Sunni Sahwa militia were killed when a bomb exploded outside the town of Jurf al-Sakhar, 60 km (40 miles) south of Baghdad, a spokesman for the Babel provincial police said.


Amarra:
#1: Two Iraqi civilians have been injured in an IED (improvised explosive device) blast in southern Iraq’s Amara city, the center of Missan Province, on Tuesday, a Missan security source said. “An IED blew off early on Tuesday against a truck, loaded with foodstuff, in Amara city, wounding its driver and a man sitting beside him in the bus,” the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Thi Qar Prv:
#1: A U.S. vehicle patrol was damaged on Monday by a bomb blast in Thi-Qar province, according to a security source. “A U.S. vehicle was damaged as an Explosively Formed Penetrator (EFP) was remotely detonated targeting a U.S. motorcade on the road linking between al-Masouriya region and Imam Ali airbase, southern Nassiriya,” the source, who asked for anonymity, told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The road was closed for two hours to defuse two more EFP bombs at the same place,” he added. Nassiriya, the capital of Thi-Qar, is 380 km south of Baghdad.


Sulaimaniya Prv:
#1: The Iranian artillery shelled on Monday the border villages in Sulaimaniya near Iran causing material damage to agricultural lands, mayor of the Qalaat Daza district in Sulaimaniya said. "The Iranian artillery started at 7:00 am on Monday shelling the villages in Qalaat Daza district, causing material damage to a number of agricultural lands," Hassan Abdullah Hassan told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. "The shelling caused panic among residents, but left no casualties," he noted. The Iranian army is shelling these areas under the pretext they harbor the PJAK fighters.


Kirkuk:
#1: Early Tuesday, an Iraqi army patrol hit a roadside bomb near the northeast Iraqi city of Kirkuk, killing one soldier and wounding two others, said Capt. Ahmed Salih.


Duhuk:
#1: Turkey shelled on Monday the border regions in Dahuk less than a week following the visit of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Iraq.


Mosul:
#1: In Nineveh, gunmen attacked a checkpoint on Monday night using muted weapons in Al Soha District, western Mosul, killing two policemen.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: NATO troops killed six civilians during a night raid on a house in northern Afghanistan's Sar-e Pul province late, the provincial governor told Reuters. The NATO-led force said soldiers on a joint operation with Afghan troops had killed five men who were armed and opened fire on them. They are investigating the identity of the dead men, a spokesman said.

#2: Five policemen were injured Tuesday when a bomb blasted in Kandahar city, capital of the same name Kandahar province, some 450 km south of Afghan capital of Kabul, a statement of provincial administration said, Xinhua reported. "A unit of border police force was on routine patrol in sub- district nine of Kandahar city but at round 11:40 a.m. local time a roadside bomb was detonated near police vehicle. As a result five policemen slightly injured,"the statement said.


News: Lieutenant Colonel Siki Skare (Civ.)

DoD: Lance Cpl. Harry Lew

War News for Monday, April 04, 2011

MNF-Iraq (OND) is reporting the deaths of two U.S. soldiers in an indirect fire attack in an undisclosed location in Iraq on Saturday, April 2nd.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday, April 3rd.

NATO is reporting the deaths of two ISAF soldiers from a small-arms fire attack from an apparent Afghan Border policeman in Faryab province, Afghanistan on Monday, April 4th.


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: A roadside bomb Monday morning detonated outside the house of a senior official of the Iraqi industrial ministry in Baghdad's southern district of Doura, killing one of his bodyguards and wounding three others, an Interior Ministry source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

#2: In western Baghdad, a roadside bomb went off outside the house of an Awakening Council group member in Ameriyah district, killing him and causing damages to his house and nearby buildings, the source said.

#3: In a separate incident, another roadside bomb went off in front of the house of Razzaq Issah, the director general of the government-owned Iraqi Investments Board, wounding him and another person, the source added.


Mosul:
#1: Gunmen using weapons equipped with silencers killed two policemen in western Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: Three policemen were killed and 13 others were wounded late on Sunday night when a suicide car bomber struck a crowd of policemen gathered at the site of an earlier roadside bomb explosion in center of Ramadi city, the capital of Anbar province, a provincial police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

At least 12 people were killed and injured on Sunday in two blasts occurred in quick succession in Ramadi, west of Baghdad, a police source said on Monday. "A bomb attached to an officer car went off, targeting a police patrol near a school in the city, said the source, adding that a car bomb exploded then when security forces gathered in the site of the first blast," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. "An officer and a policeman were killed and ten others, including six policemen and four civilians, were wounded in the explosions," he added.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A blast at a bus stand in the northwestern town of Dir, near the former Taliban stronghold of Swat, killed three people and wounded several more, police said. It is unclear what caused the blast, officials said.

A teenaged suicide bomber struck a bus terminal in northwest Pakistan on Monday, killing seven people. The bomb exploded in the small town of Jandol in the district of Lower Dir, 200 kilometres (125 miles) from the capital Islamabad. Pakistani troops fought a major offensive to expunge the Taliban from the area nearly two years ago. Dir district police chief Saleem Marwat said seven civilians were killed and 18 wounded at the bus terminal, close to a car showroom, which was also damaged in the blast.

#2: Islamist rebels in northwestern Pakistan cut the throats of three security guards in the latest fatal attack on a NATO truck convoy headed for Afghanistan. The guards were killed at a NATO truck terminal in the town of Landi Kotal in the Khyber tribal district near the Afghan border. Suspected Taliban and al-Qaida rebels also damaged 10 oil tankers carrying fuel to resupply international troops in Afghanistan, a local Pakistan government administrator said. Police said around two dozen armed men attacked the parked vehicles and planted timed devices on 12 out of the 18 tankers. One of the devices failed to explode. Six people including five drivers and one of their assistants also were injured in the attack.

#3: Two suicide bombers set off an explosion on Sunday evening at a Sufi shrine compound in Pakistan, killing at least 42 people, police officials said. More than 100 people, including women and children, were wounded. The attack was aimed at a popular shrine of a Sufi saint, Sakhi Sarwar, in Dera Ghazi Khan, a remote district of Punjab Province, police officials said. An annual festival was in progress as hundreds of worshipers thronged the shrine compound when the attackers detonated their explosives. Police officers said the attackers failed to get inside the shrine because of strict security measures.

#4: Two suicide bombers were killed on Monday in front of a government agency building in Lashkar Gah, capital of Afghanistan's Helmand province some 555 km south of capital city of Kabul, a provincial administration spokesman said. "Two suicide bombers had the intention of attacking a provincial court office in Lashkar Gah at around 11:30 a.m. local time, but police identified and intercepted the bombers," Daud Ahmadi told Xinhua. He said the first bomber blew himself up after intercepted by police triggering an explosion that killed the bomber and injuring two civilians and a policeman on the scene. According to Ahmadi, the second bomber was shot dead by police force before he had the chance to detonate his explosive vest.


News: Filaret Motco (Civ.)

News of the Day for Sunday, April 3, 2011

Reported Security Incidents

The U.S. military announces that two U.S. soldiers have been killed by indirect fire, giving no information as to location or the soldiers' unit at this time. Mortar and rocket fire against U.S. bases, which is what is meant by "indirect fire," have continued steadily, but it usually doesn't hit anything important. The most likely explanation for this is such an attack. We'll see. -- C

Marivan, Iran

An Iranian news agency reports that four police officers were killed in an attack near the Kurdistan border. Iranian Kurdish separatists operate out of Iraqi Kurdistan, similar to the movement confronting Turkey.

On a highway in Anbar Province

Armed assault on the convoy of Iraqi Minister of Industry and Minerals Ahmed Nassir Al Karbuli results in the death of one security guard and injuries to four. Karbuli survives.

Baghdad

Sticky bomb attack injures Dhiab Tareq, an employee in the Iraqi Council of Ministers, in Mansour.

Kirkuk

Two civilians injured in a rocket attack on their house. This was an area where "displaced people" are returned, suggesting in the context of Kirkuk that this was an incident of inter-ethnic violence in the Arab-Kurdish border war. The same VoI dispatch reports that gunmen set fire to a middle school in Altun-Kupri, a town northeast of Kirkuk. The same motivation would likely apply, although details are lacking. -- C

Kut

Unknown gunmen assassinate a successful merchant who had ordered that his mansion be converted to an orphanage. A strange tale indeed. C

Other News of the Day

PM Nuri al-Maliki calls the NATO-led action in Libya "selective, his point being to criticize the western powers' lack of response to the crackdown on Shiite protesters in Bahrain. Meanwhile, at least according to Syrian official media, he offers a message of support for Bashar al-Assad. [One might be led to conclude that Dick Cheney and the Project for the New American Century failed to install a faithful ally in Baghdad. -- C]

And as the Kuwait Times reports, support for the Bahraini Shiite uprising among Iraq's Shia is intense. [Hoo boy] Excerpt:

The sewing machines have been furiously churning out red and white Bahraini flags at a basement workshop in downtown Baghdad, and Iraqi customers are snapping them up to wave at protests, unfurl from buildings and fly from car antennas. The fervor is testimony to the solidarity Iraqi Shiites feel with their religious brethren in Bahrain battling for more rights.

It is also a sign of how the crushing of the Bahraini Shiite protests by the island nation's Sunni monarchy, with the help of Saudi Arabia and other Gulf allies, hikes up sectarian tensions around the region. Hundreds of Iraqis have taken to the streets in demonstrations against Bahrain's ruling elite and Saudi Arabia. Politicians railed against Bahrain in parliament. Iraq's Shiite prime minister, who's been largely silent on most of the turmoil in the Middle East, said Bahrain's actions were threatening to inflame sectarian violence.

The Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani - revered by many Shiites both inside and outside of Iraq - has called on the Bahrain government to cease the crackdown.

Afghanistan Update

Two policemen are killed and 20 people injured in a second day of protests in Kandahar against the burning of a Koran by a fundamentalist preacher in the U.S. Additional injuries and at least one more death occur when a propane bottle explodes after protesters set fire to a traffic police booth.

Meanwhile, hundreds of protesters block the main highway in Eastern Afghanistan. Violent protests and 20 deaths also reported in Jalalabad.

It's incredible that an ignorant clown in Florida, with a congregation of maybe 20 fools, can cause so much mischief just because the corporate media are willing to shower obscure idiots with attention. Note, however, that "Many Afghans did not know about the Koran-burning until Mr Karzai condemned it four days later. Karzai is now demanding that the U.S. bring the perpetrator [whose name I will not repeat because he does not deserve any publicity or fame. -- C] to justice. The truth is that Karzai is fanning these flames for purposes of his own.

And, right on cue, the Taliban also call for an uprising.

Let's just hope this doesn't get any uglier, but I'm not betting on it.

War News for Saturday, April 02, 2011

The DoD is reporting a new death unreported by the military. Spc. Dennis C. Poulin died from from a non-combat related incident at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Landstuhl, Germany on Thursday, March 31st. He was originally injured in Konar province, Afghanistan on Wednesday, March 28th.


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: In the capital, one soldier was killed and two were injured when two consecutive bombs exploded, witnesses said. The blast took place close to al-Mustansiriya University in east Baghdad's Palestine Street, targeting an Iraqi Army patrol.


Kirkuk:
#1: A member of the pro-government al-Sahwa (Awakening) Forces has been killed in an armed attack in northern Iraq’s Province of Kirkuk on Saturday, a Kirkuk official said. “A group of armed men opened fire on Saturday morning on an army company’s position close to al-Alwiya Village, 45 kms to the southwest of Kirkuk, killing a Sahwa (Awakening) force member,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Mosul:
#1: Three mortar shells have fallen close to the headquarters of northern Iraq’s Ninewa Operations Command in Mosul city on Saturday, a security source said. “Three mortar shells fell today (Saturday) close to Ninewa Operations Command in central Mosul, causing no casualties, but minor damage for two houses in the area,” the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Anbar Prv:
#1: Three soldiers and one policeman were killed when gunmen attacked their checkpoint in Kabisa city, located some 170 kilometres west of Baghdad. Gunmen escaped the scene after the attack, which also left two policemen injured, sources said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Afghans angry over the burning of a Quran at a small Florida church stormed a U.N. compound in northern Afghanistan on Friday, killing seven foreigners, including four Nepalese guards.

Romania's president has sent his condolences to the family of a Romanian who was killed in Afghanistan in an attack on United Nations' offices. Traian Basescu also expressed his solidarity with other countries whose nationals were killed when Afghans stormed a U.N. compound in Mazar-i-Sharif on Friday, leaving seven foreigners dead, in retaliation for a Florida church's burning of the Muslim holy book.

The victims of a lethal mob attack on a United Nations compound in Afghanistan included a Norwegian and a Swedish citizen, the governments in Oslo and Stockholm confirmed Saturday. The Scandinavian victims were a 53-year Norwegian pilot and a 33-year old Swedish lawyer.

One of those injured is believed to be the UN head of mission to Mazar-e-Sharif.

#2: The bomb ripped through a bus carrying Afghan National Army personnel early on Saturday in eastern Kabul, followed by exchanges of fire between attackers and army personnel that killed at least one civilian, Xinhua reported. According to witnesses, two explosions were heard near an army training center and a foreign military base. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet.

#3: two suicide attackers disguised as women blew themselves up and a third was gunned down when they tried to enter a NATO base on the outskirts of Kabul, NATO and Afghan police said. Bashary also gave reporters details of the morning attack on Camp Phoenix, a base on the east side of Kabul that's used to train Afghan security forces. He said three armed insurgents wearing suicide vests arrived at a main gate at the base around 6:45 a.m. Two of the attackers opened fire and then detonated their vests of explosives, Bashary said. The third opened fire and was killed by NATO forces. The body of a fourth person, an Afghan man at the scene, has not been identified. Three NATO service members were injured.


DoD: Spc. Dennis C. Poulin

War News for Friday, April 01, 2011

Iraq war: estimated 1 million dead/ 5 million misplaced

1.611 mln registered Afghans refugees living in Pakistan


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: Three civilians were wounded on Thursday when a mortar shell hit a house in central Baghdad, according to a security source. "A mortar shell hit a house near the Polish embassy in al-Aarsat region, central Baghdad, wounding three civilians," the source told news agency. "Two more shells landed near the Green Zone and the Babel hotel in al-Jadieriya region, central Baghdad, with no word on damage," the same source said.


Abu Ghraib:
#1: Unknown gunmen wearing military uniforms raided the house of a former member of the awakening council in Al Haswa region in Abu Ghraib District, western Baghdad and killed him, a source told Alsumaria.


Amarra:
#1: A bomb exploded late Thursday near a U.S. vehicle patrol in central Amara city, according to chairman of the security and defense commission of the Missan council. “The explosion that targeted a U.S. vehicle patrol occurred near the Missan police department in central Amara,” Sarhan Salem Younnis told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The blast caused no casualties or material damage,” he added.


Mosul:
#1: Two civilians were wounded when attackers hurled a hand grenade at a police patrol in western Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, a police source said.

#2: A man was killed by gunfire in a commercial area in central Mosul, a police source said.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: At least three Iraqi soldiers were killed on Friday in a suicide bombing, police officials told CNN. The incident occurred in the Anbar province city of Falluja, 37 miles, or 60 kilometers, west of Baghdad, Iraq's capital. A suicide bomber detonated an explosive vest at a group of soldiers near an army post in the central part of the city. Among the three dead was Iraqi army officer Col. Khalid Abbass. At least three civilians were wounded.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Three security guards have been killed by suspected militants at a Nato truck terminal in a volatile district of north-west Pakistan, officials say. The attack took place in Landi Kotal town in the Khyber tribal district on the Afghan border. Ten oil tankers were damaged.

#2: Pakistani tribesmen gunned down a suspected suicide bomber as he tried to attack a market area in the northwestern tribal region of Darra Adamkhel on Friday. One tribesman was killed and two wounded when the explosives strapped to the body of the bomber exploded, a senior government official in the region said.


DoD: Sgt. 1st Class Ofren Arrechaga

DoD: Staff Sgt. Frank E. Adamski III

DoD: Spc. Jameson L. Lindskog

DoD: Pvt. Jeremy P. Faulkner