War News for Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Over 15,000 U.S. servicemen to remain in Iraq beyond 2011 deadline

Ministry of Human Rights: 14025 missing persons in Iraq since 2003


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: In Baghdad, gunmen using silenced weapons shot dead Hatam Kareem, an official with Baghdad governor's office, near his house in al-Amil district in southwestern the capital late on Monday night, an Interior Ministry source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

#2: An improvised explosive device attached to a presidential vehicle went off in southern Baghdad on Monday, leaving two persons aboard wounded, a security source in Baghdad said. “The IED, attached to a presidential pickup truck, went off near Dhu al-Tabiqayn bridge in the area of al-Jadiriya, southern Baghdad, leaving two persons aboard injured,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#3: A bomb attached to a pick-up truck wounded two of its passengers when it went off in Baghdad's central Karrada district, an Interior Ministry source said.


Kirkuk:
#1: In Kirkuk province, two children were killed and four people wounded when gunmen planted bombs around the homes of two police officers and blew them up in the town of Hawija, 60 km west of the provincial capital city of Kirkuk, Sarhat Abdul-Qader, a police chief in Kirkuk province told Xinhua.

#2: Separately, two people were wounded when gunmen bombed the house of a municipal official in the town of al-Ryadh, some 50 km southwest of Kirkuk City, Qader said.

#3: Also in the province, the police found the body of a policeman on a main road northeast of the city of Kirkuk, some 250 km north of Baghdad, Qader added. The victim went missing on Monday and his body has signs of gunshot in the head, he said.

#4: Iraqi soldiers and Kurdish peshmerga fighters exchanged gunfire in the ethnic mixed city of Kirkuk on Monday, killing a civilian and wounding four people, a local police source said. The clashes erupted in Atlas Street in central Kikruk, some 250 km north of Baghdad, after a quarrel between Iraqi army force and peshmerga fighters guarding a Kurdish party office, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. The gunfire killed a civilian and wounded two peshmerga fighters as well as two soldiers, the source said.

#5: A policeman was wounded when a roadside bomb went off in central Hawija, 210 km (130 miles) north of Baghdad, Kirkuk police operations room said.

#6: Iraqi troops freed three Turkish workers and one Iraqi who had been held hostage in a village near Hawija, Kirkuk police operations room said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: "A group of militants opened fire on a line of oil trucks destined for US forces in Roza area of Ghazni, located 136 kilometers (84 miles) south of the capital Kabul, early on Tuesday, leaving seven tankers on fire," a Press TV correspondent reported. The assailants later fled the scene. Their whereabouts are unknown. Zorawar Zahid, police chief of Ghazni, said that seven fuel tankers were set on fire in the act of terror. He noted that police cordoned off the area after the incident and have launched a search operation to arrest the perpetrators.

#2: Two suicide bombers were the only victims when they detonated their explosive-packed vests in the southern Afghanistan province of Helmand Tuesday, the provincial government said. The bombers targeted private security guards escorting a convoy in Gireshk district, the Helmand governor's office said in a statement. Two security guards were slightly injured, it said.

#3: A suicide bomber driving a tractor was killed when his explosives detonated prematurely in the Barmal district of southeastern Paktika province on Sunday, the Interior Ministry said.

#4: Twin bomb attacks on two buses of the Pakistan navy killed at least two navy officers and two other people in the southern port city of Karachi on Tuesday, a navy spokesman said. The spokesman said in a statement that 56 people, mostly navy personnel, were injured in the attacks in two different places. Navy officer Sub-Lt. Muhammad Iqbal and a navy lady doctor Ms. Nadia were among those killed, the spokesman said. A police officer, Raja Omar, said that both bombs were detonated through planted bombs exploded with the help of remote control or mobile device. Police said that both buses were carrying employees of the navy buses to work when came under attacks. Police sources said that bombs were attached to motorcycles and were parked on the routes of the navy buses. The first attack took place at Defense area of Karachi when a motorcycle exploded near the bus. The bus was carrying some 50 employees of the Pakistan Navy, a police officer said. Two navy officers were killed and 37 others were injured in the first blast, the navy spokesman said. Another blast was reported in the navy bus in Baldia Town area of Karachi, killing two and injuring 19 others, the spokesman said.


DoD: Chief Warrant Officer, Terry L. Varnadore II

DoD: Sgt. Sean T. Callahan

DoD: Lance Cpl. Dominic J. Ciaramitaro

DoD: Sgt. 1st Class Benjamin F. Bitner

War News for Monday, April 25, 2011

MNF-Iraq (OND) is reporting the deaths of two U.S. soldiers during conducting operations in an undisclosed location in southern Iraq on Friday, April 22nd.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, April 23rd.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from a helicopter crash in the Alah Say district, Kapisa province, Afghanistan on Saturday, April 23rd.

NATO is reporting the deaths of two ISAF soldiers from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, April 23rd.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED blast in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, April 24th.


476 inmates escape from Afghan prison, Taliban claims responsibility

2 killed in Tajik-Afghan border clash

Nato supply route re-opened in Pakistan

Classified Files Offer New Insights Into Detainees


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: Six persons have been wounded in an improvised explosive charge (IED) blast against an Army patrol north of Baghdad, a security source said on Sunday. “An IED, planted on the roadside in northern Baghdad’s Kasra district, blew off against an Iraqi Army patrol, wounding four soldiers and two civilians,” the security source said.


Diyala Prv:
#1: A sticky bomb attached to the car of Major Rabah Abbas, an Iraqi army officer, detonated while he was leaving his house in western Baquba, some 65 km northeast of Baghdad, the source said on condition of anonymity.

#2: Also in the city, a sticky bomb attached to a minibus detonated and killed the driver in northwestern Baquba, the source said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"



DoD: Sgt. John P. Castro

DoD: 1st Lt. Omar J. Vazquez

DoD: Pfc. Antonio G. Stiggins

DoD: Staff Sgt. James, A. Justice

News of the Day for Sunday, April 24, 2011

Reported Security Incidents

Southern Iraq, undisclosed location

The U.S. military announced that two U.S. soldiers were killed Friday "while conducting operations in southern Iraq", without releasing further details pending notification of next of kin. However, relatives of Lt. Omar Vazquez of Hamilton, New Jersey, told reporters that he was one of the casualties, and that the deaths were the result of an IED attack on his convoy.

Baghdad

Bomb attack near the entrance of the Church of the Sacred Heart in Karrada injures two police officers and two civilians.

VoI reports two serious incidents not reported elsewhere:

1. Gunmen attacked the car of Director-General of the Iraqi Taxes Commission, Fuad Fadhel Abbas, killing him on the spot.
2. Armed men kill a Defense Ministry employee in Saydiya district.

And Reuters reports two more:

1. Defence Ministry Brigadier-General Abdul-Ghani Mohammad was seriously wounded when a sticky bomb attached to his car exploded in Baghdad's western Amiriya district, an Interior Ministry source said. (This was also reported by VoI, but without identifying the victim)
2. Defence Ministry Lieutenant-Colonel Yahya Fadhel Abbas escaped unharmed when a sticky bomb attached to his vehicle exploded in central Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.

Kirkuk

A police captain is killed by a sticky bomb attached to his car.

An Iraqi soldier is killed, his wife and child are injured, in a separate sticky bomb attack.

Numaniya township, Wassit

IED attack on a U.S. Army patrol, casualties unknown at this time. Note: It is unclear why there appears to me so much U.S. military activity lately in Southern Iraq, associated with what appears to be active resistance and U.S. casualties. This is a Shiite dominated area where the U.S. was not very active in the previous phase of active warfare. Of course, it would be too much to expect the U.S. military to tell the citizens what is going on. -- C

Other News of the Day

PM Al-Maliki rules out extending the Status of Forces Agreement, says that U.S. forces will leave Iraq as scheduled in December. This is in response to suggestions by U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen that U.S. forces might remain longer.

Afghanistan Update

Three NATO service members are killed by Roadside bombs in southern Afghanistan, one in an attack on Sunday, and two on Saturday. No further information at this time.

NATO helicopter crash in Kapisa province kills one crew member, injures the other. "When coalition rescue forces arrived at the crash site, ISAF said, they immediately came under fire from insurgents. "Coalition forces returned fire with small arms and an air weapons team while working to evacuate the two crew members of the aircraft," an ISAF spokesperson said." A Taliban spokesman claimed credit for shooting down the aircraft but ISAF has no comment as to the cause.

Pakistan halted NATO supply shipments to Afghanistan on Saturday after thousands of protesters rallied on the main road to the border to demand Washington stop firing missiles against militants sheltering inside the country. AP reports that the stoppage is temporary.

Gunmen kill Haji Zahir Arian, former district chief of Marja, Helmand Province.

Quote of the Day

Iraqis wonder aloud whether the US and Britain would have invaded Iraq if its main export had been cabbages instead of oil. However obvious the answer, a remarkable array of American pundits and pseudo-savants have resisted giving the oil factor any pride of place among the motives behind the US/U.K. decision to invade Iraq in 2003.

Ray McGovern

War News for Saturday, April 23, 2011

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Friday, April 22nd.


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: “A group of unknown gunmen opened fire from silencer-guns have opened fire on an officer, with a colonel rank, in west Baghdad’s al-Nisour Square, seriously injuring him and he lost his life while driven to hospital,” the security source added.

#2: He said that an Iraqi Housing & Reconstruction Ministry official was killed, also by armed men, while passing on the highway passing through southern Baghdad’s al-Doura district.

#3: “A high-ranking employee in Iraq’s Foreign Ministry was also killed and his wife, injured, in an attack by unknown gunmen in northwest Baghdad’s al-Uteifiya

#4: An Iraqi Intelligence element has been shot dead by unknown gunmen, using silencer-guns, west of Baghdad on Saturday, a security source said.“A group of armed men, opened their silencer-gun fire on an element of the Iraqi Intelligence, when his car passed through west Baghdad’s al-Adel district, killing him on the spot, whilst the attackers fled to an unknown destination,” the security source told Aswat



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Two Afghan policemen died and two more were wounded in an ambush in eastern Afghanistan Saturday, officials said. The interior ministry said the attack in Dara-i-Nur district in Nangarhar province was carried out by the "enemies of peace and stability", a term often used to describe the Taliban.

#2: A foreign forces helicopter meanwhile crash-landed in Kapisa province, northeast of the capital Kabul, with two foreign troops rescued after what international forces called a "hard landing" The helicopter was forced to land after hitting a cable, said Kapisa deputy provincial governor Aziz Ul Rahman. "Initial information we have says that a helicopter of the foreign forces has hit a cable that the local people in Alasay district had erected between two mountains to ferry rocks," he said. "We have sent an investigation team to the area and the team will report back in few hours." The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) spokesman Major Michael Johnson added that both crew members were alive and under the care of coalition forces, but said he could not comment on the extent of their injuries.

#3: Two insurgents were killed in an airstrike while burying an IED and setting up an ambush with several others in the Andar district of Ghazni province, ISAF said.

War News for Friday, April 22, 2011

The DoD is reporting a new death previously unreported by the military. Spc. Sonny J. Moses died at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Landstuhl, Germany on Monday, April 18th. He was originally wounded in a grenade attack at FOB Gamberi, Nangarhar province, Afghanistan on Sunday, April 16th.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Thursday, April 21st.


Barstow contractor killed in Afghanistan

U.S., Pakistani military chiefs trade barbs


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: Gunmen using silenced weapons seriously wounded a police major when they opened fire on his car in the Amiriya district of western Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: Three policemen were killed and three more were wounded in a bomb explosion in Ramadi, a police source said on Friday. “An improvised explosive device went off in al-Mustawdaa street in central Ramadi targeting a police vehicle patrol, killing three policemen and wounding three others,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: At least 14 members of Pakistan's security forces were killed on Friday when Taliban insurgents attacked a checkpoint in the northwest of the country near the Afghan border, DawnNews TV channel quoted local police as saying. DawnNews said several hundred militants attacked the checkpoint in the Lower Dir, seen by Pakistani authorities as a hotbed of Taliban Movement of Pakistan, or Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, which reportedly has links to Al-Qaeda.

#2: Earlier on Friday, Taliban militants also launched an attack on NATO gasoline tanker trucks in northern Afghanistan's Baghlan Province, Bakhtar news agency reported.

In the north, militants attacked a coalition fuel convoy Thursday night in Dushi district of Baghlan province. The governor’s office says two tankers were burned and seven others were damaged

#3: A suspected U.S. drone strike in the Pakistani tribal region killed 25 people on Friday, intelligence officials said. In Friday's attack, a drone fired five missiles on a hideout in Mir Ali of North Waziristan, one of the seven districts of Pakistan's volatile tribal region bordering Afghanistan, two intelligence officials said. The officials said the militants, who were staying in the hideout, were planning to move into Afghanistan for an attack against coalition forces. But the attack also killed three women when one of the missiles hit a house next to the targeted compound, officials said.

#4: A roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan has killed five Afghan border policemen. Gen. Abdul Raziq, chief of the Afghan border police in Kandahar province, says one other border policeman was wounded in the blast on Thursday night in Spin Boldak district along the Pakistan border.

#5: Three construction company workers were killed and one was wounded in an airstrike by the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in the Do Munda district of Khost province, police chief Abdul Qayum Esaaqzai said. An ISAF spokesman could not immediately confirm the incident.


DoD: Spc. Sonny J. Moses

War News for Thursday, April 21, 2011

MNF-Iraq (OND) is reporting the death of a U.S. sailor from a non-combat related incident presumably aboard the USS Enterprise on Tuesday, April 19th.

The French MoD is reporting the death of a French ISAF soldier from an IED attack south of Kapisa, Afghanistan on Wednesday, April 20th.


Sacramento woman killed in Iraq

Report: Iranian engineers freed in Afghanistan

Taliban Fan Fears of Infiltration in Afghan Forces

Iraq is a US colony ruled by an Islamic regime, Saadi Youssof


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: The head of the Iraqi parliament's anti-graft committee narrowly escaped assassination Thursday, according to his political bloc, which is loyal to radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Baha al-Araji had been leaving his home in the predominantly Shiite north Baghdad neighbourhood of Kadhimiyah in the morning when three gunmen in an unmarked car pulled up and began firing silenced pistols at him, an official with the Sadrist bloc said from its headquarters in Najaf. "After a car chase, the three gunmen were caught" by Araji's bodyguards, added the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

#2: “Unknown gunmen attacked alcoholic beverages store in al-Jihad neighborhood in western Baghdad and opened fire on it, injuring three persons, including the store’s owner,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#3: “An explosive charge went off in al-Tahrir tunnel in al-Tayaran square, central Baghdad, wounding four persons and damaging a civilian car,” he added.


Samarra:
#1: A child was killed and four more were wounded on Thursday in an assassination attempt of president of the Samarra Criminal Court, a source from the Samarra Operations Command said. "A roadside bomb went off in al-Aamroushiya region, central Samarra, southern Tikrit, targeting the motorcade of Judge Shihab Ahmad al-Aadzawi, who survived the attack, while a child was killed and four others, including three bodyguards, were wounded," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Mosul:
#1: The director of oil products distribution department in Ninewa was wounded on Wednesday by gunfire in eastern Mosul, a security source said. “Unknown gunmen opened fire this evening on Mohammad Younis Ismail, the director of the oil products distribution department in Ninewa, in al-Methaq neighborhood, seriously injuring him,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: Gunmen in a speeding car shot dead a civilian in western Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, a police source said.

#3: Gunmen attacked a police checkpoint, killing two policemen, in western Mosul, a police source said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Three policemen have been killed and six others wounded in a bomb explosion in eastern Afghanistan, officials say. The bomb was planted inside a van which was transporting members of the Afghan National Police in Jalalabad city, Nangarhar province. The policemen were on their way to work when the blast occurred. The Taliban said they carried out the attack.

#2: (?) About 90 rebels and civilians have been killed in NATO-led military operations in the Logar and Kunar provinces in Afghanistan, local officials and Taliban sources say. At least 70 Taliban rebels were killed in Logar, 65 km south of Kabul, and 17 others were killed in NATO air bombings on a village in the eastern Kunar province. According to Kunar governor Fazlullah Wahidi, one woman and two of her kids died in the attack.

TWO Afghan women were killed in an operation in eastern Afghanistan that also left 17 insurgents dead, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said today. Local officials had previously said that two women and a child died in the fighting late Tuesday in the Dangam district of Kunar province. "The security forces returned fire, killing the insurgent and what turned out to be two women he was hiding behind," an ISAF statement said. It added that during the operation, ISAF troops "killed 17 insurgents including foreign fighters and detained one suspected insurgent while searching for an Al-Qaeda senior leader".

#3: Gunmen on motorcycle attacked and torched two tankers carrying fuel for Western forces in Afghanistan in Bolan, 70 km (43.5 miles) east of Quetta, in Pakistan's southwestern Baluchistan province, paramilitary officials in the region said.

#4: At least 12 militants were killed in an operation launched by the Pakistani armed forces in the country's northwest tribal area on Wednesday, reported local Urdu TV channel Ajj. According to the report, the Pakistani army shelled the hideouts of militants in Mohmand Agency with helicopter gunships. During the clashes, one soldier was also killed and six others were injured. The report failed to say at what exact time and in which specific area the military operation was carried out.


MoD: Captain Lisa Jade Head

DoD: Petty Officer 3rd Class Micah Aaron Hill

DoD: Pfc. John F. Kihm

War News for Wednesday, April 20, 2011

The British MoD is reporting the death of a British ISAF soldier at the Queen Elizabeth NHS Hospital in Birmingham U.K. on Tuesday, April 19th. The soldier was wounded in a demining operation in the Nahr-e Saraj (South) District, Helmand province, Afghanistan on Monday, April 18th.


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: A bomb targeting a police patrol wounded three people, including one policeman, in Baghdad's central al-Mesbah district, an Interior Ministry source said.

#2: Gunmen opened fire at a police patrol, wounding one policeman in the Hurriya district of northwestern Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said

#3: Istabraq al-Shouk, deputy minister of construction and housing, escaped unharmed when a roadside bomb exploded near his convoy in northern Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said. The source said four passers-by were wounded in the incident.

#4: Two bombs killed three people and wounded 10 others when they went off in Baghdad's northeastern Sadr city slum, an Interior Ministry source said.

#5: A bomb targeting a police patrol wounded two people, including one policeman, in Khilani square in central Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.

#6: Armed men using silenced weapons killed an Iraqi policeman in Baghdad's southwestern Jihad district, police said.

#7: A roadside bomb went off in Palestine Street in northeastern Baghdad, wounding two civilians and an Iraqi soldier, an Interior Ministry source said.


Nassiriya:
#1: A bomb exploded on Tuesday by gunmen near a U.S. convoy in northern Nassiriya, according to chairman of the Thi-Qar council's security commission. "A bomb exploded on Tuesday targeting a U.S. convoy in Albu Halala region between al-Shatra and al-Nasr districts, northern Nassiriya, without causing casualties," Sajad al-Asadi told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Kut:
#1: A policeman was killed on Tuesday when his colleague shot him in northern Kut, according to a security source. “A policeman shot and killed his colleague using a Kalashnikov near Kut-Baghdad checkpoint in northern Kut,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Tikrit:
#1: In Salahudin province in the north of Baghdad, a booby-trapped car parked in central the provincial capital city of Tikrit detonated at about 7 a.m. (0400 GMT) near the convoy of Faisal al- Azzawi, chief judge in the Salahudin's Court of Appeal, a provincial police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. Azzawi escaped the attack unharmed despite damages to his vehicle, but four of his bodyguards were wounded by the blast, the source said.


Mosul:
#1: Gunmen killed a high school student in southeastern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#2: An employee of Iraq's Independent High Electoral Commission in Mosul escaped unharmed when a bomb attached to his car exploded just south of Mosul, police said.

#3: The bodies of two men were found near a town southwest of Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#4: A Peshmerga element was killed on Tuesday by gunmen in eastern Mosul, according to a security source. "Unknown gunmen opened fire on a Peshmerga element from the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in al-Shuhadaa neighborhood, eastern Mosul, killing him instantly," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#5: A kurd and two Shabaks were kidnapped on Tuesday by gunmen in western Mosul, according to a security source. "An unknown armed group kidnapped a Kurd and two Shabaks on Tuesday afternoon in al-Maash market in western Mosul," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: A roadside bomb exploded near a police patrol, wounding four policemen and two civilians, in Ramadi, 100 km (60 miles) west of Baghdad, according to a spokesman for the governor of Anbar province.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Two insurgents were killed when one of the homemade bombs they were constructing exploded in Zormat district in southeastern Paktia province overnight, the Afghan Interior Ministry said.


DoD: Spc. Paul J. Atim

DoD: Spc. Charles J. Wren

DoD: Pfc. Joel A. Ramirez

DoD: Capt. Charles E. Ridgley Jr.

DoD: Sgt. 1st Class Charles L. Adkins

DoD: Staff Sgt. Cynthia R. Taylor

DoD: Sgt. Linda L. Pierre

DoD: Spc. Joseph B. Cemper