War News for Saturday, May 21, 2011

German forces shoot Afghan protestors


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: Gunmen equipped with silenced weapons shot dead Col. Nameer Khazaal, an officer working for the local forensics office in Baghdad's southwestern district of Bayaa, an Interior Ministry source said.

#2: Gunmen using silenced weapons shot dead two employees working at the Iraqi intelligence facility in western Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source.


Diyala Prv:
#1: A roadside bomb exploded near a house of Saadoun al- Mashaikhi, a mosque imam while he was returning from prayer, wounding him and killing two people, including his son in southern Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) northeast of Baghdad, police said.

#2: Three civilians were injured due to a stick bomb in their car in Baaquba city.


Amarra:
#1: The office director of the Legislature of al-Ahrar (Liberals) Bloc in southern Iraq’s Missan Province has been injured in an attack on his car north of its center city of Amara, a Missan security source said on Friday. “A group of armed men opened machinegun fire on the car of Al-Ahrar MP, Raf’e Abdul-Jabbar’s Missan office director, Mohammed Qassem on Friday, seriously wounding,” the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency, adding that he was driven to a nearby hospital for treatment.


Basra:
#1: A Basra police force has arrested two persons, while trying to plant an explosive charge in Hartha area, north of Basra on Saturday, a security source said. “Two persons, trying to plant an explosive charge on the main highway, connecting Baghdad with Basra, close to Hartha area, 20 km to the north of Basra, have been detained” the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Tikrit:
#1: The director of Police Department of Alam District in Tikrit and his driver were injured due to a sticky bomb in their car, police sources in Salah al-Din province said today. Two other persons were also injured due to an explosion in local market mid of Tikrit city.

#2: A civilian was hurt by a sticky bomb planted in his car near Great Tikrit Mosque in the center of the city at the end of Friday prayers, police sources said today.

#3: and another bomb that led to two casualties in the local market of the city.


Hawija:
#1: A roadside bomb wounded two civilians in Hawija, 210 km (130 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.


Kirkuk:
#1: A roadside bomb targeting an Iraqi army patrol, killed two soldiers and wounded two others in the southwest of Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad on Friday, police said.

#2: Gunmen opened fire at the house of an off-duty policeman, wounding him in southern Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#3: The corpses of two brothers, killed in Kirkuk, were found inside their house north of the city on Saturday, a Kirkuk police source said. “A force, belonging to Kirkuk’s Azadi Police have found two corpses of two brothers, killed in their house north of the city, according to intelligence information,” the police source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. He said that one of the victims was a policeman and his brother was a salesman.


Mosul:
#1: Two policemen were killed and eight others wounded when two successive roadside bombs went off in central Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad on Friday, police said. The second bomb exploded when security forces gathered at the scene.

#2: Gunmen opening fire at a police checkpoint killed one policeman in western Mosul late on Friday, police said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Five insurgents were killed and one wounded when a homemade bomb they were preparing exploded in eastern Afghanistan on Friday, provincial governor Jamaluddin Badr told Reuters. The blast took place inside a house in Paron, the capital of the volatile Nuristan province.

#2: Four soldiers with the Iowa National Guard were injured by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan on Wednesday. The four were wounded when the vehicle they were in hit an improvised explosive device. There was no information on the extent of their injuries.

#3: The Afghan Defense Ministry says a suicide bomber blew himself up inside a tent filled with medical students eating lunch at a military hospital in Kabul Saturday, killing at least six people and wounding 23. Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Mohammed Zaher Azimi says Saturday's blast occurred on the grounds of the Mohammad Daud Khan military hospital in central Kabul.

#4: At least 16 people were killed in northwest Pakistan after a bomb attack claimed by a militant group hit a truck carrying fuel supplies for NATO forces in Afghanistan. It took place near the Torkham border crossing in the Khyber region, the main route for moving supplies to NATO and American forces in Afghanistan. “The tanker was on fire because of a blast late in the night. There was another blast early in the morning in the same tanker and 16 people who gathered near it to collect oil were killed,” a senior local administration official in Khyber said. Police officials said the first blast was caused by a bomb.

#5: In another attack in the same region, a bomb struck 16 NATO fuel trucks late on Friday, setting them on fire. No one was hurt.

#6: Eight suspected militants were killed on Saturday when army gunship helicopters attacked their hideouts in Orakzai region, adjoining Khyber, local officials said.

#7: A US drone strike destroyed a vehicle in Pakistan's Taliban-infested North Waziristan district on the Afghan border Friday, killing four suspected militants, local officials said. The two missiles struck the Tappi area, 10 kilometres (six miles) east of Miranshah, the main town of North Waziristan, where US officials want Pakistan to launch an offensive against networks fighting in neighbouring Afghanistan. "A US drone targeting a militants' vehicle fired two missiles killing four militants," a security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

War News for Friday, May 20, 2011

Kirkuk Bombs Threaten Iraq's Oil Security

Wildcat strikes spread in Iraq as BP lifts first oil cargo

Troop morale in Afghanistan plummets, report says

Cdn. medics kept busy in Afghanistan

Armed skirmish reported at Tajik-Afghan border in Khatlon

A new test for Taliban and al-Qaeda ties

5 Mehdi Army chiefs escape from Taji prison


Reported security incidents

Qaiyara:
#1: A roadside bomb exploded near an Iraq army patrol, killing four soldiers, in the town of Qaiyara, 290 km (180 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: update Thirty-six people were killed and 20 wounded when the Taliban stormed an Afghan road construction company. The violence in the eastern province of Paktia, which borders Pakistan, started at around 2am on Thursday and raged for several hours. One security guard who survived told said that 'hundreds' of Taliban had swamped the compound, forcing him and two colleagues to hide with guns and a few bullets so they could kill themselves if they were found.

#2: The Taliban bombed a US consulate convoy in Peshawar on Friday, killing one person and wounding 11 others in the first attack on Americans in Pakistan since Osama bin Laden's death. A US embassy spokesman said two US government employees were lightly wounded in the rush-hour attack in the volatile northwestern city, which runs into the tribal belt that Washington has branded a global headquarters of Al-Qaeda. One of two armoured vehicles was damaged by what a bomb disposal official said was 50 kilos of low-grade explosives packed into a car and detonated by remote-control, dismissing initial reports of a suicide bomber on a motorcycle. "Two vehicles of the US consulate were on their way to the consulate when they were attacked," US embassy spokesman Alberto Rodriguez told AFP. "One vehicle was damaged. There is no death among our personnel and there are no serious injuries," he added. "Only one car was hit. In that car there were US citizen diplomats and a Pakistani driver," he said, adding that two male US government employees inside the car suffered "minor injuries".

#3: A civilian was killed and nine others injured Thursday when a powerful bomb explosion rocked Kandahar city, officials said. Eight civilians were injured Thursday when a powerful bomb explosion rocked Kandahar city, the provincial capital of Kandahar in southern Afghanistan. Eye witnesses told Xinhua that the explosive were planted in a motorbike and detonated near the Kabul Bank branch.

#4: One child was killed and four civilians wounded when a bomb hidden in a bag exploded near shops and a shrine in southern Kandahar city, said Zalmay Ayoubi, a spokesman for the Kandahar governor.

#5: At least 60 insurgents were killed by Afghan and foreign forces in a three-day operation in northwestern Faryab province, ISAF said in a statement. The offensive started on May 13 in Faryab's Qiasar district, it said.


FR/MoD: Private 1st Class Cyril Louaisil

DoD: Spc. Brandon M. Kirton

War News for Thursday, May 19, 2011

The French MoD is reporting the death of a French ISAF soldier from an accidental explosion of ammunition in southern Kapisa province, Afghanistan on Wednesday, May 18th. Four additional soldiers were wounded in the incident. Here's the ISAF release.


Questions linger over control of Pakistan airfield

Chechens killed in Quetta were unarmed: witnesses

Afghan prisoner at Guantanamo dies in apparent suicide

British operation in Iraq comes to an end


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: An Iraqi Education Ministry staff was seriously injured in an explosive charge blast west of Baghdad on Wednesday, a security source said. “Abbas Hassan Mar’ie was seriously injured in an explosive charge blast under his car in west Baghdad’s Iskan housing complex, whilst another citizen was also injured,” the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: An Iraqi civilian has been killed and two others were injured in an improvised explosive device (IED) that blew up under a car in central Baghdad’s Bab al-Muadham district on Thursday, a security source said. “An IED blew up under a civilian car close to Adilah Khatoun Mosque in central Baghdad’s Bab al-Muadham district on Thursday, killing its driver on the spot,” the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

A sticky bomb attached to a cleric's car blew up in central Baghdad, killing the cleric and wounding two passers-by, an Interior Ministry source said.

#3: Three civilians have been injured in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast close to northern Baghdad’s Aqaba bin-Naf’e Square on Thursday, a security source said. “An IED blew off on the roadside, close to the so-called Mission Compound in northern Baghdad’s Aqaba bin-Naf’e Square on Thursday, wounding three civilians,” the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Diyala Prv:
#1: A parked car bomb targeting the convoy of police Lieutenant-Colonel Abdul Hameed al-Shimari, the emergency response unit commander in Diyala province, killed two civilians and wounded 10 people in Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) northeast of Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said. Shimari escaped injury but three of his guards were among the wounded, the source said.


Basra:
#1: Southern Iraq’s Basra International Airport has come under a Katusha rocket attack on Wednesday, along with Basra’s Shalamja border post. “The Basra International Airport has come under a Katusha rocket attack on Wednesday, causing no losses, whilst the city’s Shalamja border post suffered a 5-Katusha rocket attack, also failing to cause human or material losses,” the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Kirkuk:
#1: Twin bombs that appeared timed to lure policemen out of their fortified headquarters in a northern Iraqi city killed 22 people on Thursday, most of them police officers. Scores were wounded in the double blasts in Kirkuk, and a third explosion 45 minutes later on a road to a city hospital brought the number of injured to at least 60, said provincial health director Siddiq Oman. Kirkuk police Capt. Abdul Salam Zangana said the first explosion, in a central Kirkuk parking lot at about 9 a.m., sent policemen rushing outside their secure headquarters compound to investigate. That's when the second blast hit, Zangana said. The double blasts killed 22 people, most of them policemen, and wounded more than 52, he said. It also heavily damaged the police headquarters, where rescue workers frantically combed through the rubble to find victims. The third bomb set cars and trucks ablaze when it exploded about 550 yards (500 meters) away, targeting a police patrol near a mosque, said Zangana, who oversees security units at the hospital where the dead and wounded were brought. Zangana said eight people were wounded in that blast.


Mosul:
#1: A policeman was injured by a blast aimed at his patrol east of Mosul, security sources at the province said today. The source pointed out to Aswat al-Iraq that the explosion led to material damage in a patrol vehicle.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: Three Army soldiers and an officer, with a colonel rank, have been injured in an explosive charge blast against their patrol in western Iraq’s city of Falluja, an Anbar police source said on Wednesday. “An explosive charge, planted on the roadside in Falluja city, 60 km to the west of Ramadi, the center of Anbar Province, blew up against an Army patrol, wounding 4 of its members, among them an officer with a colonel rank, along with causing damage to their vehicle,” the police source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Several civilians have been killed in a three-day US-led operation against militants in Afghanistan's northwestern Faryab province, witnesses say. In a Thursday statement, NATO announced that 65 militants were killed during the offensive. However, witnesses have told a Press TV correspondent that several civilians were also among the dead. The operation started on May 13 in Faryab's Qiasar district and lasted for three days, the NATO statement said.

#2: The first four died during a disputed night raid by U.S.-led troops who stormed a house shortly after midnight in the city of Taloqan, the capital of Takhar province, in Afghanistan's northwest.

#3: The last 13 died when a suicide bomber drove an explosives-laden car into a bus that was carrying police academy trainers in the eastern province of Nangarhar, one of the most violent regions of the country. It was the latest in a series of suspected Taliban attacks on Afghan security forces.

#4: Taliban forces have abducted 72 road workers and burned their equipment in southeastern Afghanistan, provincial officials said Thursday. The workers were taken from their camp in the Wazai district of Paktia province, where they were spending the night, said Abdullah Durani, the chief director of public works in the province. The Taliban also set fire to 12 vehicles and road-building equipment, he said.

#5-6: At least one person was killed and four others including three policemen injured on Thursday in two different bomb attacks in Pakistan's northwestern city of Naushehra, local sources said. In the first incident, a passerby was killed while three others including two policemen were injured when a roadside planted bomb exploded near a police van in the city. According to city police officer Imtiaz Khan, the incident occurred at Jahangira Chowk where a police van was on routine patrol and came under attack of a remote controlled bomb device. In another incident, one policeman was injured when some unknown persons threw a hand grenade at a refugees' registration center in the northwestern part of Pakistan.


DoD: Staff Sgt. David D. Self

DoD: Spc. Bradley L. Melton

DoD: Pvt. Lamarol J. Tucker

DoD: Pvt. Cheizray Pressley

War News for Wednesday, May 18, 2011

The DoD is reporting a new death unreported by the military. Sgt. Robert C. Schlote died from a non-combat related medical illness in Omaha, Nebraska, U.S. on Saturday, May 14th. He was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

The Hungarian MoD is reporting the deaths of two Hungarian ISAF soldiers from a vehicular roll-over accident in Baghlan province, Afghanistan on Tuesday, May 17th. Four additional soldiers were wounded in the accident. Here's the ISAF release.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an unspecified insurgent attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday, May 18th.


Troops face increasing dangers in Iraq

11 killed at violent protests over Afghan deaths

Pakistani troops, NATO helicopters engage in firefight


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: Officials say that a bomb in Baghdad has killed an Iraqi man and injured three other people. A Baghdad policeman said the Wednesday morning casualties were the result of a so-called sticky bomb that was hidden on the underside of a car. A hospital official confirmed that the driver of the car was killed and that his two passengers were wounded. A passer-by also was injured.

#2: An Iraqi civilian has been killed and three others injured in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast north of Baghdad on Tuesday, a security source said. “An explosive charge, planted on the roadside in northern Baghdad’s Waziriya district, had blown up to kill a civilian and wounding three others,” the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#3: A roadside bomb blew up and wounded four civilians late on Tuesday in the Doura district of southern Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.

#4: Sticky bombs attached to two oil tanker trucks went off, killing one driver and wounding the other, late on Tuesday in the Amil district of southwestern Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.


Kut:
#1: update A woman and her daughter have been injured in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast against a U.S. Army patrol in southern Iraq’s Wassit Province on Tuesday, a security source said. “An IED that blew off against an American military patrol in Kut city, the center of Wassit Province, had injured a woman and her daughter, who happened to be close to the venue of the blast,” the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Riyadh:
#1: Two employees of North Iraq’s Oil Company in Kirkuk have been injured in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast on Tuesday, a Kirkuk police director said. “An IED blew off under a vehicle of two employees of the North Oil Company in Kirkuk in Riyadh Township, 45 km to the southwest of Kirkuk, seriously wounding both men and causing serious damage to their vehicle,” Brigadier Sarhad Qader told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Kirkuk:
#1: Police found the body of man with gunshot wounds in the head in northern Kirkuk, police said.


Mosul:
#1: Unknown gunmen killed a civilian working as a driver at the Faculty of Arts east of Mosul city, security sources said here today.

#2: The manager of the police internal affairs department in Mosul escaped an attempt on his life but a police officer was wounded when a roadside bomb blew up late on Tuesday near their vehicle in eastern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Dozens of militants bearing rocket-propelled grenades attacked a key security checkpoint near the Pakistani city of Peshawar early Wednesday, sparking a three-hour clash that killed two police officers and 15 insurgents, police said. The attack on the Sangu Mera checkpoint is more likely tied to the Pakistani military's offensives against militant groups in its tribal belt bordering Afghanistan. Sangu Mera lies just along the border of Khyber tribal region, one of the areas where Taliban and other militants have hideouts and where the Pakistani army has staged multiple operations. The checkpoint is about 6 miles (10 kilometres) away from Peshawar, a strategically important city near Afghanistan. Senior police official Liaquat Ali Khan said as many as 100 militants carrying rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons attacked the security forces overnight. But eventually the insurgents were pushed back.

#2: Also Wednesday, gunmen on a motorbike killed five minority Shiite Muslims in a minibus in what appeared to be a sectarian attack in Pakistan's southwest Baluchistan province, police said. Six people also were wounded in the attack in Quetta, the provincial capital.

#3: Afghan soldiers, backed by NATO-led forces, during cleanup operations killed 16 insurgents in Paktika province 155 km southeast of capital city Kabul over the past two days, spokesman for provincial administration said on Tuesday. "Based on intelligence a unit of joint Afghan and international troops launched a cleanup operation in Mata Khan District Tuesday morning leaving four rebels dead," Mukhlis Afghan told Xinhua. In separate operation a day earlier on Monday the combined forces killed 12 militants in the neighboring Urgun district, he said.


DoD: Spc. Brian D. Riley Jr.

DoD: Sgt. Robert C. Schlote

HU/MoD: Andras Dalnoki

HU/MoD: Orsolya Roth

War News for Tuesday, May 17, 2011

NATO is reporting the deaths of four ISAF soldiers from an IED blast in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Monday, May 16th.


Iraqi Sunni officers increasingly targeted, as Shiite militias fear Baath party return

3 Alaska-based soldiers killed by bomb in Afghanistan


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: An officer in Iraq’s Anti-Terrorism Body had been killed in an attack by silencer-guns west of Baghdad on Tuesday, a security source said. “A group of armed men, using silencer-guns, opened fire on the car of Lt. Brigadier, Jassim Hamid Lazim, in Iraq’s Anti-Terrorism Body, in southwest Baghdad’s al-Amil District on Tuesday, killing him on the spot,” the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Kut:
#1: An explosive charge blew off against a U.S. military patrol in Kut city, the center of southern Iraq’s Wassit Province on Tuesday, a Wassit police source said. “An explosive charge blew off against an American military patrol in central Kut on Tuesday, but human and material losses were not known,” the police source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. He said the American forces opened random fire after the blast and imposed a security cordon around the venue of the explosion.


Iskandariya:
#1: Two persons were killed in bomb blast in Fadhila (Chastity) Party Headquarters north of Hilla, security sources said today. The source told Aswat al-Iraq that a bomb was put in air cooler exploded in the headquarter of the party in Iskandariyah area, 50 km north of Hilla, which led to the killing of two of the guards.


Hawija:
#1: The Director of Police Administrative Affairs in Hawija township of north Iraq’s Kirkuk Province has escaped an assassination attempt on Monday, a Kirkuk Police Director said. “Lt. Brigadier, Qusay Arif, the Director of Hawija township’s Police Administrative Affairs, 65 km to the southwest of Kirkuk, has escaped an assassination attempt, when an explosive charge blew off under his vehicle southwest of the township on Monday night,” the police director said.


Mosul:
#1: One soldier was killed and a child was wounded following a gunmen attack against a military check point west of Mosul, a security source said today. The source told Aswat al-Iraq that unknown gunmen attacked a military check point which led to the killing of a soldier and the wounding of a child who was accidentally close to the location of the attack.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A NATO helicopter attacked a Pakistani army post near the Afghan border on Tuesday, injuring two soldiers in an incident that could further increase tensions following the U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden, Pakistani officials said. A Western military official said the incident started before dawn, when a NATO base in Afghanistan received intermittent direct and indirect fire from the Pakistani side of the border. Two helicopters flew into the area to provide support, one of which fired across the border after twice receiving fire from the Pakistani side, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. The attack took place Tuesday morning in the Datta Khel area of the North Waziristan tribal region, injuring two soldiers, said Pakistani intelligence officials. The area is a known sanctuary for Taliban and al Qaeda militants and has been targeted repeatedly by covert U.S. drone strikes. Pakistani troops responded to the attack with machine gun fire and deployed two helicopter gunships over the army post, but the NATO helicopter had already left, said the Pakistani officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.


MoD: ArticleMarine Nigel Dean Mead

DoD: Sgt. Kevin B. Balduf

DoD: Lt. Col. Benjamin J. Palmer

FR/DM: Private 1st Class Loïc Roperh

War News for Monday, May 16, 2011

The British MoD is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED blast in a compound in the Loy Mandeh wadi area of the Nad 'Ali (North) district, Helmand province, Afghanistan on Sunday May 15th. Here's the ISAF release.


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: One Iraqi security guard was killed and two Norwegians were among four people wounded on Monday when a roadside bomb exploded near their convoy in Baghdad, security and medical officials said. The blast occurred at around 8:00 am (0500 GMT) in the eastern neighbourhood of Jadidah, or New Baghdad, an interior ministry official said on condition of anonymity. He said one Iraqi guard died, and the wounded included two Norwegians and two Iraqi private security guards, adding that they were part of a convoy from the water resources ministry. A doctor at Al-Kindi hospital in central Baghdad confirmed five people, including two foreigners, suffered wounds from a bomb blast.

#2: In a separate attack, a traffic policeman was killed by gunmen using silenced weapons in the northern Baghdad neighbourhood of Al-Utayfiyah, the interior ministry official said.

#3: Also on Monday, a roadside bomb targeting Baghdad provincial council member Kamil al-Zaidi blew up as the politician's convoy was on the edge of the Shiite neighbourhood of Sadr City, according to the official. Eight people were wounded in the attack, including three policemen, but Zaidi was unharmed. Another roadside bomb targeting a police patrol near Al-Wathiq square in central Baghdad wounded four people, including three policemen.

#4: A roadside bomb wounded two policemen and a civilian in central Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.

#5: A bomb attached to a vehicle killed an Interior Ministry worker late on Sunday in Baghdad's southern Saidiya district, an Interior Ministry source said.

#6: Gunmen on a speeding motorcycle, using silenced weapons, wounded a civilian late on Sunday in the Hurriya district of northwestern Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.


Kut:
#1: A strong explosion that shook the city of Kut, the center of southern Iraq’s Wassit Province, on Sunday, was caused by an explosive charge blast targeted against a U.S. Army patrol, a Wassit police source said. “An explosive charge, targeted against an American Army patrol, close to Kut’s Central Garage on Sunday, had caused damage to the main street, fruit and vegetable shops and civilian cars in the area,” the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. An eyewitness said that one of the U.S. patrol’s cars was damaged due to the explosion, adding that the U.S. and Iraqi police had imposed a cordon around the venue of the blast, preventing media and civilians to get close to it. The eyewitness told Aswat al-Iraq news agency that he saw ambulance cars driving a number of injured persons to al-Zahraa Hospital in Kut, whilst a medical source said that the blast did not cause any human casualties.


Tikrit:
#1: A tax official was killed today and three of his colleagues were injured by a sticky bomb north of Tikrit, security sources at the Joint Coordination Office in Salah al-Din province reported. "The bomb was stuck to a civil car and exploded upon his return to his home, which resulted in his death and the wounding of his colleagues," the sources added to Aswat al-Iraq.


Kirkuk:
#1: Police found the body of a man in his thirties, believed to be a Christian kidnapped several days ago, in northern Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, a police source said.


Mosul:
#1: An Interior Ministry bomb squad defused a sticky bomb attached to a car belonging to the judge who heads the criminal court of Nineveh province, in central Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#2: Gunmen in a speeding car attacked an Iraqi army checkpoint in western Mosul on Sunday, killing a soldier and wounding a child, police said.

#3: Gunmen in two cars shot dead the son of a civilian contractor in a town northwest of Mosul on Sunday, police said.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: The deputy chairman of Anbar's Provincial Council said today that, in cooperation with the security forces, an expanded investigation was opened into the dead bodies found yesterday in Amiriyah Quarter, south of Falluja. Sa'doun Al-Sha'lan clarified to Aswat al-Iraq that the investigation will determine the identity of the dead, those who are implicated in the murder, and the fate of all missing people from Anbar. "Initially, we found three bodies. We then found another 18 in an adjacent grave," he added.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A base for South Korean construction workers has come under yet another attack in the Afghan town of Charikar in the northern province of Parwan. A rocket-propelled grenade exploded near the base late Sunday, but left no casualties, Xinhua quoted the South Korean Foreign Ministry as saying on Monday.

#2: Four Canadian soldiers were injured when a helicopter "rolled" Monday during a "hard landing" on a river bed in Afghanistan. The Canadian Ch-47 Chinook transport chopper accident occurred during night operations by the Quebec-based Royal 22nd Regiment in the Horn of Panjwaii.

#3: Eleven civilians were killed and wounded in insurgent attack in Kunar province, east of Afghanistan on Monday, according to a statement issued by Afghan Interior Ministry. It said that the enemies of peace and stability, a term usually referred to Afghan Taliban insurgents, fired four rounds of mortar on Wata Pour district, Kunar province Monday morning. Interior Ministry in the statement described it as a coward act of terrorism and condemned it.


DoD: Sgt. Amaru Aguilar

News of the Day for Sunday, May 15, 2011

Reported Security Incidents

Baghdad

Three members of one family killed in an armed home invasion. No indication of motive as of now.

Four people are injured by an explosion near the National Theater in Karrada.

VoI reports four separate Katyusha rocket attacks:

* Six people are injured when a rocket falls on a garage in al-Tayaran square.
* Three are injured by a rocket that falls on the highway in Jadririya.
* Four are injured by a rocket that falls near a mosque and a filling station.
* A fourth rocket falls harmlessly into the Tigris.

However, Reuters reports that one person was killed and nine injured when nine rockets fell in the Green Zone. (That's a pretty big event for VoI to miss!)


Xinhua reports on three separate attacks on police by gunmen equipped silenced weapons.

* Gunmen injured a traffic officer in al-Shaab. He returned fire and killed one of the attackers.
* Lieutenant Colonel Mahmoud Nawaf from the Interior Ministry was injured in an attack on his car in Abu Dsheir.
* A intelligence officer was injured in al-Nisour square.

Mosul

Two people are killed and three injured in what appears to be a neighborhood feud.

An off-duty police man is injured by a roadside bomb in Hammam al-Alil township south of the city.

Tuz Township, south of Kirkuk

Six police are injured by a roadside bomb.

Turkey-Kurdistan border region

Turkish government says soldiers killed 12 PKK members who were entering Turkey. Separately, a Turkish soldier is killed by a land mine. The PKK ended a six-month cease fire in February.

Other News of the Day

For you conspiracy theorists out there (and after all, there really are conspiracies, a helicopter, hired by police, landed at the scene shortly after the body of Dr. David Kelly was found and departed after five minutes. The Daily Mail obtained flight logs but "Significantly, the flight log has been heavily redacted, making it impossible to know who was on board or what its exact purpose was. The flight was not mentioned in oral evidence at the Hutton Inquiry, set up by Tony Blair to investigate Dr Kelly’s death." (For those who do not recall, Dr. Kelly was named as the primary source of a report that the Blair government had lied to the public about Iraqi weapons in making the case for war. He was found dead shortly thereafter, and his death ruled a suicide; but many have doubts. Follow the link for details.)

A navy biomedical investigator believes that inhalation of microscopic dust particles may be responsible for unexplained illnesses of many Iraq veterans. The Defense Department (surprise!) denies there is any problem.

PM Nouri al-Maliki issues a threat to Muqtada al-Sadr should the government decide to extend the U.S. troop presence in Iraq an al-Sadr oppose the decision. Al-Sadr responds with a sermon in which he says ""We appeal to all Iraqi people to expel the U.S. troops from Iraq through demonstrations and marches. We will not accept the occupation's troops staying, not even for one day after the end of this year."

Afghanistan Update

A NATO soldier is killed by an IED in southern Afghanistan. No further information as of now.

A police official says NATO forces opened fire on a group of girls age 8 to 15 in Kunar province, killing one and injuring four. NATO says it is investigating.

Leaked documents reveal that NATO forces have made extensive use of white phosphorus weapons in populated areas, a practice forbidden by international conventions.

The Pakistani legislature passes a resolution asking the government to consider ending the transport through Pakistan of supplies for NATO forces in Afghanistan.

John Kerry is visiting Afghanistan and Pakistan as the Senate Foreign Relations Committee winds up hearings on the Afghanistan war. A movement is growing in congress to wind down the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan. Kerry's position on this question is likely to be influential.