War News for Thursday, April 14, 2011

The DoD is reporting a new death previously unreported by the military. Pvt. Brandon T. Pickering died at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany on Sunday, April 10th from wounds received by small arms fire and RPG attack in Wardak province, Afghanistan on Friday, April 8th.


Polish president prolongs Afghan mission

New C.I.A. Drone Attack Draws Rebuke From Pakistan


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: A roadside bomb went off near an Iraqi army patrol and wounded three soldiers in Baghdad's west-central Mansour district, an Interior Ministry source said.

#2: Three civilians were wounded on Thursday in an improvised explosive device blast in Baghdad, a security source said. "An explosive charge went off in front of a barber shop in al-Zaafaraniya neighborhood, southeastern Baghdad late Thursday, injuring three civilians and damaging the shop," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#3: "An improvised explosive device went off in Zeraa Dejla region, northwestern Baghdad, injuring three civilians,

#4: while two more bombs exploded in al-Youssifiya region in southwestern Baghdad, killing two people and wounding 13," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Diyala Prv:
#1: The Mayor of Saadiya city in Diala Province and three of his guards, have been injured in an explosive charge blast on the roadside northeast of Baaquba, the center of the Province, a Diala Police source said on Wednesday. “An explosive charge, planted on the roadside between Saadiya and Jalalwla towns in Khanaqin township, 155 km to the northeast of Baaquba, blew off against the car of Saadiya Mayor, Ahmed al-Zarkoushy, wounding him and three of his guards,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: The media director of the Diala police, Colonel Ghaleb Attiya, escaped on Thursday an attempt on his life by a bomb blast in central Baaquba. "I survived an assassination attempt when a bomb went off in front of my house in al-Tahrir neighborhood, central Baaquba," Colonel Attiya told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. "Three passing civilians were wounded in the explosion," he added.


Mahmudiya:
#1: Two roadside bombs went off in quick succession, killing two people and wounding 13 in the town of Mahmudiya, 30 km (20 miles) south of Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.


Hilla:
#1: A bombing targeted a US military unit, northern Hilla, a security source said.


Taji:
#1: Three people were wounded by a roadside bomb in the town of Taji, 20 km (12 miles) north of Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.


Kirkuk:
#1: A car bomb killed one person and wounded 16 others, including three policemen, two women and three children, when it went off in southern Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, Kirkuk police operations room said.


Mosul:
#1: A sticky bomb attached to the front door of a house wounded the owner and killed his wife when it went off late on Wednesday in Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Pakistani troops and paramilitary forces, backed by helicopter gunships and warplanes, targeted Taliban positions in the tribal region of Mohmand near the Afghan border on Thursday, killing at least 18 militants, a regional government official said. "We are going after them with full force, using every kind of force. They carry out attacks and other activities from there," Masood Khan, the government official, said. He said at least 18 militants were killed and 25 wounded in the fighting. "The operation is still on," he said.

#2: At least three Afghan policemen were killed when suicide bombers attacked a police training centre in the east of the country, officials say. Police said two bombers also died in the raid on the base in Paktia province where dozens of men were being trained. According to police, four men with explosives tied to their bodies tried to enter the police training compound in Paktia and were challenged by security forces. The first attacker blew himself up outside the base, killing three policemen and injuring another three who were guarding the front gate, police said. A heavy exchange of fire followed in which the second attacker was killed. Police said the remaining two attackers managed to escape, the BBC's Bilal Sarwary reports from Kabul.

#3: In the Kabul attack, a truck laden with explosives blew up outside the district governor's office. The attacker was killed and several policemen were injured, officials said.

#4: In the third incident, police killed a suspected militant who was trying to enter a police station in the southern city of Kandahar. Officials said the man was wearing an explosive belt.


DoD: Pvt. Brandon T. Pickering

War News for Wednesday, April 13, 2011

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED blast in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, April 13th.


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: A bomb wounded three people in Baghdad's northern Adhamiya district, an Interior Ministry source said.

#2: A sticky bomb attached to a minibus killed the driver and wounded two passers-by in Baghdad's western Yarmouk district, an Interior Ministry source said.

#3: A sticky bomb attached to a car killed the driver in Baghdad's southern Doura district, an Interior Ministry source said.

#4: A mortar round wounded three people in Baghdad's central Salhiya district, an Interior Ministry source said.

#5: A roadside bomb wounded three people when it went off in Mansour district in west-central Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.

#6: Gunmen using silenced weapons opened fire at a car and wounded four people, including two off-duty policemen, in Baghdad's southern Doura district, an Interior Ministry source said.


Kirkuk:
#1: A roadside bomb struck a police convoy and seriously wounded Lieutenant-Colonel Najat Hassan in southeastern Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.


Mosul:
#1: Police said they found the body of a kidnapped prison guard with gunshot wounds in an area south of the city of Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad.

#2: Gunmen shot and killed a man in western Mosul, police said.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: Gunmen using silenced weapons killed a man inside his shop on Tuesday evening in central Ramadi, 100 km (60 miles) west of Baghdad, police said.

#2: A sticky bomb attached to a car carrying a police lieutenant killed him and wounded another person in the city of Falluja, 50 km (32 miles) west of Baghdad, police said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: An old rocket shell exploded in Dadno village in eastern Paktika province, killing two children, and wounding several others, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

#2: A roadside mine detonated under a vehicle belonging to private security firm Watan Risk in Wardak province, southwest of Kabul, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. One security guard was killed and three injured.

#3: A suicide bomber killed ten people in an attack on Wednesday on a gathering of tribal elders in Afghanistan's eastern Kunar province, a volatile area where insurgents have gained ground in recent months. The attack took place in Asmaar district when elders from two tribes, some of them former warlords, were meeting to resolve a dispute, provincial police chief Khalilullah Ziaee said. The suicide bomber blew himself up in the middle of the group, targeting former mujahideen commander Mohammad Zarin, who died along with nine others. At least seven people were wounded, Ziaee said.

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

#5: Afghan and coalition forces have killed more than 10 Taliban insurgents during a two-day operation in northwest Afghanistan, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said on Wednesday. ISAF said the operation, which began on Monday and ended on Tuesday, was aimed to clear a suspected Taliban safe haven in Tez Nawa village of Ghormach district, located in Faryab province. It said the safe haven is associated with improvised explosive device (IED) activity and is a cache location. During the operation in the area, coalition forces killed more than 10 Taliban insurgents and detained 'numerous' others, ISAF said. "This area has historically been associated with the senior Taliban leader and Head of the Taliban Shura council for Ghormach," it added.

#6: Three Polish soldiers have been wounded by a roadside explosive device in Ghazni province in the south of Afghanistan - there condition is not serious, say media reports. The explosion occurred earlier this morning and caused minor damage to the troop’s Rosomak military vehicle.


DoD: Spc. Brent M. Maher

War News for Tuesday, April 12, 2011

The DoD is reporting a new death previously unreported by the military. Sgt. Vorasack T. Xaysana died from a non-combat related incident in Kirkuk, Iraq on Sunday, April 10th.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED blast in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, April 11th.


Afghanistan: Drone missile 'killed two US soldiers'

Tajik soldier killed on Afghan border

Canadian media largely missing from Afghanistan these days

Pakistan Tells U.S. It Must Sharply Cut C.I.A. Activities


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: A police officer was killed and his driver was wounded by gunmen in eastern Baghdad on Monday, a security source said. “Unknown gunmen killed a police colonel and injured his driver after attacking his car near a fuel station in al-Bonouk neighborhood, eastern Baghdad,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: An Iraqi civilian has been killed and three others injured in a blast of an improvised explosive device (IED), stuck to a civilian car east of Baghdad on Tuesday, a security source said. “An IED, stuck to a civilian car, blew up in West Baghdad’s Four-Streets Square on Tuesday, killing its driver and wounding three civilians,” the security

#3: Gunmen using silenced weapons killed a police lieutenant-colonel and wounded his driver in their car in the Binoog district of northern Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.


Diyala Prv:
#1: #3: Six members of a family died in the explosion of a roadside bomb and four people were killed by a second blast as they tried to help victims of the first, in a village near the town of Khan Bani Saad, about 30 km (20 miles) northeast of Baghdad, a Diyala police source said.


Amarra:
#1: One civilian was killed and another one was wounded on Monday in south of Amara, a security source said. “Security guards in al-Aziz district killed a civilian and injured another one in south of Amara,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Iskandariya:
#1: Two policemen have been killed and two others were wounded in an explosion targeted against them in western Iraq’s Babel Province on Monday, a Babel security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “An explosive charge went off against a police patrol in Iskandariya township, 50 km to the north of Hilla, the center of Babel Province on Monday, killing 2 policemen and wounding 2 others,” the source said.


Khan Dhari:
#1: Police and health officials say bombings in a town west of Baghdad have killed five people, including three family members of a former pro-government Sunni fighter. Police officers say that bombs planted around the house of Ahmed Jassim in the town of Khan Dhari went off at 5:30 a.m., killing his wife and two sons and wounding the former Sons of Iraq militiaman and his daughter. The Sunni group battled al-Qaida at the peak of Iraq's war. Minutes later, a roadside bomb hit an Iraqi army patrol that was rushing to Jassim's house, killing two soldiers and injuring four others. A local doctor confirmed the casualty figures.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: Two Iraqi contractors have been killed and three of their family members were injured in IED (improvised explosive devices) blasts south of Falluja city in west Iraq’s Anbar Province on Tuesday, an Anbar Police source said. “A number of IEDs blew off in three houses, belonging to Iraqi contractors, in al-Dour district, 12 km to the southeast of Falluja, killing 2 contractors and wounding three of their family members, along with causing severe damage to their houses,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Three Afghan children were killed as insurgents opened fire in Afghanistan's Faryab province on Tuesday, the ISAF said. "An insurgent killed three children and wounded four women in Faryab," a statement released by the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) here asserted. The casualties, according to the statement, took place during a joint Afghan and NATO-led forces operation in Bal Chiragh district of Faryab province, 425 km northwest of Afghan capital Kabul Tuesday morning. It also emphasized that several insurgents had been killed during the operation.


DoD: Sgt. Jose M. Caraballo Pietri

DoD: Sgt. Vorasack T. Xaysana,

War News for Monday, April 11, 2011

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed location in northern Afghanistan on Sunday, April 10th.


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: Earlier Monday, four civilians were killed and 11 others wounded when a minibus hit a roadside bomb in southeastern Baghdad, officials said. Among the dead was a 10-year girl.

#2: “An IED blew off close to Shahriar Statue in central Baghdad’s Abu-Nawas Street, wounding two civilians and causing damage to a civilian vehicle,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#3: The source also said that another IED blew off early in the day in eastern Baghdad’s Shu’ala district, wounding 4 civilians and causing damage to a truck.

#4: Head of the Editing Secretariat at the Media Directorate of Iraq’s Parliament was killed and two others were wounded in a bombing in Al Hurriya region, northwestern Baghdad.

#5: In Dora, a sniper shot dead a policeman on duty.


Diyala Prv:
#1: A roadside bomb on the main road in Baghdad in the region of Jisr Diyala, wounded 13 civilians and damaged a number of cars.

#2: A bombing, western Baaquba, wounded a civilian.


Diwaniya:
#1: Three Katyusha rockets have targeted a U.S. Army camp in southern Iraq’s Diwaniya city on Sunday, and one of them fell on a citizen’s house, a security source said. “Two Katyusha rockets fell on Sunday night on the U.S. Echo camp, 3 km to the west of Diwaniya, but losses were not known,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. He said the third rocket fell on a citizen’s house in central Diwaniya, close to the Political Prisoners Institution, causing damage, whilst security bodies and fire-extinguishing vehicles headed towards the venue of the attack, but failed to give further details.


Taji:
#1: “An IED, planted behind the so-called Nasr Institution in northern Baghdad’s Taji district, close to the Baghdad-Mosul Railwlay line, blew off when a train passed through the area, causing material damage to the train and wounding three passengers,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: Up to six people were killed and some 20 others wounded in double car bomb explosions at a marketplace in the city of Fallujah, in west of Baghdad on Monday, a local police source told Xinhua. "Our latest reports said that a total of six people were killed and 20 wounded by the two car bombing attacks in Fallujah," the source said on condition of anonymity. An officer from the team of the explosives experts, a soldier and a policeman were among the killed along with three civilians, he said. The wounded were three policemen, two soldiers and 15 civilians, the source added. The incident took place near a marketplace in central Fallujah when a booby-trapped car detonated while a team of explosives experts were defusing the bombs, the source said. Two minutes later, another explosion occurred by a second car bomb parked close to the site of the first explosion, the source added.

In the city of Fallujah, police chief Brig. Gen. Mahmoud al-Issawi said a parked car packed with explosives blew up at about 11:00 a.m. as police were trying to defuse it. The blast killed two policemen. About 15 minutes later, the second car bomb exploded about 150 meters (yards) away, targeting people gathered near the scene of the first blast, Al-Issawi said. That blast killed four civilians and injured 20, including two policemen.

#2: He said that a third blast, caused by an explosive charge planted on the main highway passing through central Falluja, took place. The blast was aimed at a police patrol, but the casualties were yet unknown.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: At least three people were killed and eight others injured in a blast on a passenger bus in the northwestern tribal area of Pakistan, local media reported on Monday. According to local Urdu TV ARY News, a planted device hit a passenger bus on its way in Kurram agency, one of the seven semi- autonomous agencies bordering Afghanistan in northwest Pakistan. Kurram agency is considered as a safe haven of militants as many arrested miscreants come from this area.

#2: A roadside bomb killed three tribal elders in western Afghanistan on Sunday, possibly in retaliation for their cooperation with the government. The men were driving to a meeting with villagers and other tribal elders to discuss what sort of projects the Afghan government and international donors should fund when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb, killing all of them, officials said. One of the dead, Sayyed Ahmed, was the head of the group of tribal elders who organised the meeting, said Abdul Basir Kherkywi, the head of Farah province�s local council.


DoD: Spc. Keith T. Buzinski

News of the Day for Sunday, April 10, 2011

Reported Security Incidents

Baghdad

A jeweler and his son are killed by armed robbers equipped with silenced weapons, who make off with bags of jewelery. It is often unclear whether these incidents are common crimes, but as this AP report states, "attacks on jewelry stores and banks have begun to surge — possibly funding some insurgent activities, officials say."

Sticky bomb explodes in Mahmoudiya, injuring the car's two passengers. VoI also reports four people injured by a roadside bomb near the international train station in Alawi district.

Sulaimaniyah

The car of journalist Suran Omar explodes outside his house while he is asleep. Omar had been critical of the Kurdish government. There were no injuries.

Mosul

A policeman is assassinated near his house.

Baghdadi village, Anbar Province

A U.S. military patrol [sic] is struck by a road side bomb. No information on casualties at this time.

Other News of the Day

Tens of thousands of Sadrists protest remarks by U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates that U.S. troops may remain in Iraq for years. Demonstrations are regularly scheduled for April 9, the anniversary of the staged toppling of the statue of Saddam Hussein in Firdos Square, but this protest was fueled by the reaction to Sec. Gates's statement. Excerpt from the report by Tim Arango and Khalid D. Ali of the NYT:

The protesters were whipped up by comments drafted by Mr. Sadr, who is continuing his religious studies in Iran but who sent a message to the crowd threatening to reconstitute his militia, the Mahdi Army, if the American military did not leave this year.

“The first thing we will do is escalate the military resistance activity and reactivate the Mahdi Army in a new statement which will be published later,” Mr. Sadr’s representative, Salah al-Obaidi, told the crowd. “Second is to escalate the peaceful and public resistance through sit-ins.”

Then there's that People's Mujahedeen situation. PMOI says Iraqi forces killed 33 people and injured 300 in an attack on its camp Ashraf on Friday, but Iraqi officials say only 3 people were killed. The U.S. has called on the Iraqis to provide humanitarian assistance to the PMOI camp, but the Iraqis have refused. PMOI claims the wounded are not receiving medical care. Reporters Without Borders has condemned what it says is a blackout on news from the camp. For those who need a reminder, this is a leftist Iranian opposition group which was harbored by Saddam Hussein and labeled a terrorist group by the U.S. Now the Iraqi government is friendly to Iran, and so is hostile to the group; but PMOI now enjoys the protection of the United States, although the U.S. has yet to officially lift the designation that it is a terrorist organization.

It seems Iraq is afflicted with a plague of phony sheiks engaged in extortion rackets against professionals. This story by WaPo's Stephanie McCrummen is a little light on the background, but it seems the U.S. propped up some self-styled "sheiks" as part of its political strategy, and the Maliki government does the same. These guys start flashing the bling and throwing their weight around like typical gangsters.

Afghanistan Update

Roadside bomb kills three tribal elders in Bala Buluk district, Farah province. They were on their way to a meeting of elders from around the region.

Bomb attack on an Afghan army bus injures 7 soldiers on 3 civilians on Saturday afternoon.

Gen. Petraeus says Al Qaeda has a minimal presence in Afghanistan and is not making a comeback. "The top commander of U.S. and NATO forces said Saturday that while some al-Qaida fighters have been searching for hide-outs in rugged areas of eastern Afghanistan, he does not think they are making a comeback inside the country. "There is no question that al-Qaida has had a presence in Afghanistan and continues to have a presence - generally assessed at less than 100 or so," Gen. David Petraeus told reporters at the coalition's headquarters in the Afghan capital." Well okay then. What exactly are we doing there?

Hamid Shalizi reports for Reuters that sentiment against the presence of westerners and non-Muslims is growing among Afghanistan's clerics.



An ISAF soldiers is killed in northern Afghanistan, no further details at this time.

War News for Saturday, April 09, 2011

The MoD is reporting the death of a British ISAF soldier in his home in Livingston, Scotland, U.K. on Thursday, March 31st. He was originally wounded from an IED blast north of Lashkar Gah, Helmand province, Afghanistan on Tuesday, April 13, 2010.


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: A bomb wounded two passers-by in Baghdad's southern district of Doura, an Interior Ministry source said.

Three Iraqi civilians have been injured in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast south of Baghdad early on Saturday, a security source said. “An IED blew off in Tu’ma area in southern Baghdad’s Daura district on Saturday morning, wounding three civilians and causing damage to a number of vehicles, he told Aswat al-Iraq news agency, giving no further details.

#2: A sticky bomb attached to a car wounded a police colonel in the Mansour district of western Baghdad on Friday evening, an Interior Ministry source said.

#3: A civilian man was wounded when a roadside improvised explosive device (IED) went off in northeastern Baghdad, on Friday, a local security source said. “An IED planted on a road in Ur neighborhood, northeastern Baghdad, went off, leaving a civilian man wounded and damaging several nearby vehicles and stores,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Kirkuk:
#1: A gunman has been killed, while trying to attack a check point belonging to the pro-government al-Sahwa (awakening) force south of Kirkuk, together with a group of his mates, the Director of Kirkuk’s Police on Saturday. “A group of armed men attacked an al-Sahwa (awakening) force’s checkpoint in southwest Kirkuk’s al-Riyadh township, in a clash that caused the killing one of the attackers,” Brigadier Sarhad Qadir told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. Qadir said that “a Riyadh Police force clashed with the attackers, killing one of them, whilst the others escaped, leaving behind the body of the dead man, who carried no identities.


Al Anbar OPrv:
#1: A bomb attached to a car killed an off-duty policeman and wounded two others in central Falluja, 50 km (32 miles) west of Baghdad on Friday night, police.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: The police chief of Gosfandi district, in northern Sar-e Pul province, was killed by the Taliban while on patrol on Friday, said provincial governor Sayed Anwar Rahmati. One of his officers was also injured in the attack.

#2: Four Taliban militants were killed and another four injured when the NATO-led forces conducted an airstrike against insurgent in Afghanistan's Kapisa province, some 65 km north of the capital city of Kabul, a district administrative chief said on Saturday. "The international forces launched an airstrike against insurgents in Alasay district in the wee hours Saturday, resulting the death of four Taliban insurgents and injuring four others," Alasay district chief, Mullah Mohammad told Xinhua. According to initial information, no civilian casualties has been reported in the air raid attack that took place in Bahdur Khil village, the official added. According to local police sources, a similar attack in neighboring Nijrab district had killed 14 insurgents, including a Taliban deputy shadowy governor for Kapisa province Thursday night.


DoD: Seaman Benjamin D. Rast

DoD: Staff Sgt. Jason A. Rogers

War News for Friday, April 08, 2011

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Thursday, April 7th.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, April 7th.


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: A roadside bomb killed two people and wounded four others on Thursday when it exploded in northern Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.

#2: Two civilians were wounded on Thursday by a mortar shell attack in western Baghdad, a security source said. "A mortar shell hit al-Sefarat bridge linking al-Aamel neighborhood with al-Shurta tunnel, western Baghdad, wounding two civilians and damaging the bridge and a civilian car," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#3: A mortar shell landed into al-Rustumiya camp in southeastern Baghdad on Thursday but no casualties were reported, a local security source said. “A mortar shell landed today (April 7) into Camp Rustumiya (formerly the Military Academy) in southeastern Baghdad, where police and joint forces are present but no information was available whether the shell left casualties or losses,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The joint forces cordoned off the site and sealed off all entrances or exits while U.S. choppers were seen flying overhead,” the source added.


Diyala Prv:
#1: Iraq's armed forces moved against a camp holding thousands of members of an Iranian resistance movement that's based in Iraq Friday, killing dozens and wounding hundreds, according to a spokesman for the movement. It wasn't immediately possible to verify the claims of the People's Mujahedeen Organization of Iran, or MEK, of 31 dead and 300 wounded. Video clips sent out by the MEK's political wing showed armored personnel carriers and military Humvees breaching the perimeter of Camp Ashraf, apparently in the early hours of Friday morning. Five Iraqi soldiers also were reported injured. The AP quoted Iraqi military and government officials denying that weapons had been fired. "One hundred members of the People's Mujahedeen Organization of Iran attacked our security and military forces," said Iraqi government spokesman government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh, the AP reported. "Our forces did not use weapons. The situation is calm now."


Mahmudiya:
#1: Gunmen shot dead Taha Hamad Jaafar, director of the al-Masar television channel, and Abid Farhan, an official with a political prisoner advocacy group, in an attack on their vehicle in the town of Mahmudiya, 30 km (20 miles) south of Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.


Kut:
#1: A young female was killed by an unknown gunman in front of her house in north of Kut, a police source said on Friday. “An unknown armed man opened his machine gun on a 25-year-old girl in front of her house in al-Sharqiya neighborhood in al-Nuaamaniya district, killing her instantly,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Basra:
#1: One Iraqi soldier was killed and eight others were wounded when munitions they were transporting exploded in northwestern Basra, 420 km (260 miles) southeast of Baghdad, medical and police sources said.


Kirkuk:
#1: Gunmen in a speeding car shot dead a tribal leader on Thursday night near his house in central Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

Unidentified gunmen shot dead the chief of the Kirkuk notables council secretary general on Thursday, according to an informed security official. “Gunmen in a vehicle opened drive-by fire on Sheikh Abdulrahman Ali Aziz al-Dalwi near his house in Area 90, central Kirkuk, killing him instantly,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: At least 50 militants and four soldiers have been killed in clashes between Taliban and security forces in Mohmand Agency in northwest Pakistan. “As many as 50 militants were killed and scores of others were injured when [security] forces pounded militant hideouts, using helicopter gunships and artillery in different parts of Saafi and Baizai in Mohmand,” a Press TV correspondent reported on Thursday, quoting local officials. In another incident, at least four soldiers were killed in clashes with the militants in Walidad Kore area in Mohmand.

At least four security personnel and 10 militants were killed and many others were injured during recent clashes in Pakistan's northwestern tribal region, local sources said on Thursday. The sources revealed that the clashes started when a security forces convoy came under attack by the militants during a routine movement in Mohmand agency, a tribal region bordering Afghanistan. In retaliation security forces, with the help of gunship helicopters, started an operation against the militants, who reportedly were hiding in the hilly area of Hazai. In the result of clashes four security personnel were killed and five others were injured while 10 militants lost their lives. While in another incident, four security personnel were injured when some unknown miscreants attacked an official mobile van with a remote-controlled bomb fixed on the roadside in northwestern Khyber Agency. The injured people were shifted to the nearby army hospital for treatment.

#2: Two members of the Iowa Army National Guard were wounded in a roadside bombing in Afghanistan. Guard spokesman Col. Greg Hapgood said Spc. Timothy Bagley, 21, of Brandon and Sgt. Eric Lindsey, 30, of Eldora were injured Monday on combat operations when their vehicle hit an IED. Both soldiers are members of an Iowa Falls-based company with the 34th Infantry Division.

#3: The bullet-ridden bodies of three Pakistani tribesmen accused of spying for the United States were found in the restive North Waziristan tribal region on the Afghan border, local intelligence officials said. Notes attached to their bodies said the men provided information to the United States, and warned others would be killed if they also did so.

#4: A remote-controlled bomb attack on a paramilitary vehicle travelling in Panjgur, in southwestern province of Baluchistan, left seven soldiers and one civilian seriously wounded, police said.


DoD: Staff Sgt. Jeremy D. Smith