War News for Monday, May 30, 2011

NATO is reporting the deaths of two ISAF soldiers from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed location in northern Afghanistan on Saturday, May 28th.

NATO is reporting the deaths of two ISAF soldiers from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed location in northern Afghanistan on Saturday, May 28th. These were two German soldiers killed in a suicide attack in Talokan, Afghanistan.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from a small arms attack from an apparent ANA soldier in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Monday, May 30th.


Haqqani insurgent group proves resilient foe in Afghan war


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: “Five persons, including 2 policemen, have been injured in an explosive charge blast against a police patrol in east Baghdad’s Palestine Street on Monday,” the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: He said that a civilian has been killed and 4 others injured in an explosive charge blast on the roadside in west Baghdad’s al-Shaab district, also on Monday.

#3: “An explosive charge blast on southwestern Baghdad’s al-Rashid Military Camp, blew up against a private security company motorcade, wounding 2 civilians.

#4: a police officer, with a lieutenant rank, was injured in an explosive charge blast agaisnthis car on Sunday night in southeast Baghdad’s “New Baghdad” district.

#5: “A Professor in the Islamic Sciences Collage of Baghdad University was injured in an explosive charge blast under his car, while passing through western Baghdad’s al-Khadhraa district, on Monday night,” the security source added.


Kut:
#1: An explosive charge blew off against a U.S. Army patrol in southern Iraq’s Kut city on Monday, but losses were not known, a Wassit security source said. “An explosive charge blew off in southern Iraq’s Kut’s main street against an American Army patrol early on Monday,” the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. He said the U.S. forces have imposed a cordon around the venue of the blast, preventing people to approach the place, whilst Iraqi police forces closed all the roads leading to the area.


Abu Ghraib:
#1: An explosive charge, planted on the roadside in northern Baghdad’s Abu-Ghuraib township, blew off against an Army patrol early on Monday, killing 2 soldiers and wounding 6 others,” the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Mosul:
#1: The Assistant Director of the state-owned Northern Cement Company and a civilian has been killed, and the official’s bodyguard was injured, in an armed attack west of Mosul on Monday, according to a Mosul security source. “Two armed men opened fire early on Monday on the car of the Assistant Director of the Northern Cement Company, Arkan Jihad, killing Jihad and a civilian, along with wounding his bodyguard, in western Mosul early on Monday,” the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: The Governor of northern Iraq’s Ninewa Province, Athil al-Nujaify, has escaped an assassination attempt in its center city of Mosul, when an explosive charge blew off against his motorcade in the city, a Mosul security source said on Monday. “An explosive charge blew off against the motorcade of Nujeify, when it passed through Tiloul-al-Baj area, south of Mosul, while on his way for Baghdad,” the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. He said the explosion had failed to cause human casualties, but damaged one of the motorcade’s.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1-2: Suicide bombers targeted NATO troops and foreign civil affairs workers in separate blasts Monday in the western Afghanistan city of Herat, killing at least four people and wounding 26, a police official told CNN. The attacks occurred within minutes of each other just blocks apart in Herat, an area that U.S. military officials have hinted American troops would be withdrawn by July because it has been largely free of violence. The bombers targeted the Ministry of Transport in central Herat, and a compound that houses an Italian Provincial Reconstruction Team -- an outreach unit made up of civilian affairs and aid workers, said police commander Abdul Rauf Ahmadi.

#1: A bomber struck near the Ministry of Transport, where witnesses say there were civilian casualties. It was not immediately clear whether anybody was killed in the blast.

#2: The second attack came minutes later when a suicide bomber blew himself up outside the main gate of a compound housing the PRT team, paving the way for gunmen to launch an assault at the compound, Ahmadi said. Afghan and NATO-led forces battled gunmen, who had taken up position inside a building next to the PRT compound, Harif Taib, a government official in Herat, told CNN. Ahmadi said the situation was under police control and the gunfight had ended, though witnesses said gunfire could be heard coming from direction of the compound. The leading Italian news agency, ANSA, reported 15 Italian soldiers are among the wounded in Herat. But none were among the dead, a government official said.

#3: A roadside bomb has killed four police officers in southern Afghanistan, the Afghan government says. The Interior Ministry said in a statement today the officers were on a convoy patrol with NATO forces when their vehicle struck a bomb laid in the road. The blast happened in Nad Ali district of Helmand province, a former Taliban stronghold where US Marines have poured in to try to establish peace and a functioning government.

#4: A bombing Monday at a restaurant in a Pakistani tribal region near the Afghan border wounded 11 people, including four children, authorities said. The blast occurred in the town of Miran Shah in North Waziristan, said Muhammed Khan, a government official.

#5: An International Security Assistance Force helicopter made a precautionary landing in southern Afghanistan today. The landing site has been secured and all personnel are accounted for. There are no casualties as a result of the precautionary landing.


MoD: Lieutenant Oliver Richard Augustin

MoD: Marine Samuel Giles William Alexander MC

DoD: 1st Lt. John M. Runkle

DoD: Staff Sgt. Edward D. Mills Jr.

DoD: Staff Sgt. Ergin V. Osman

DoD: Sgt. Thomas A. Bohall

DoD: Sgt. Louie A. Ramos Velazquez

DoD: Spc. Adam J. Patton

DoD: Pfc. John C. Johnson

DoD: Spc. Adam S. Hamilton

News of the Day for Sunday, May 29, 2011

Reported Security Incidents

Baghdad

As security forces converge at the site of a bomb blast outside a liquor store in Abu Ghraib, a second blast kills one soldier and one firefighter. Five soldiers and five firefighters are injured.

Hilla

Two bombs outside the headquarters of the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council in al-Nila township severely damage the building and injure two people. (SIIC is the largest Shiite-based political party.)

Baquba

Aswat al-Iraq reports two attacks late Saturday. What appears to have been a sticky bomb kills a civilian; and a grenade attack on a checkpoint injures three police.

Rabi'a, Ninevah Province

Bodies are found of two men, dead of gunshots to the head and chest.

Other News of the Day

NBC's Azriel James Relph reports on the VA's failure to serve veterans with mental health problems. On May 10, "Judge Stephen Reinhardt of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said the agency was violating veterans’ constitutional rights by denying them guaranteed health care and benefits, citing the Constitution’s Fifth Amendment and its guarantee of freedom from unjustified governmental deprivation of property." Relph details individual stories of veterans who were denied help, and talks with Paul Sullivan, executive director of Veterans for Common Sense, which filed the lawsuit against the VA along with Veterans United for Truth.

Reuters' Rania el Gamal tells of conflict between the "Marsh Arabs" and oil companies over exploitation of their land. Most readers of this blog should know about the tragedy of the marshes in southern Iraq, where an ancient way of life was nearly destroyed when Saddam Hussein drained the marshes. The thirst for water upstream means they still have not been fully restored. -- C Excerpt:

The Imara tribe dwells in what is now the outskirts of the marshes. Miles of wasteland scattered with palm trees, baked mud huts, stagnant water canals and rusty pipelines are all that remain of the ancient wetlands.

"The area here is backward, it needs schools, hospitals, roads, water and electricity," said sheikh Rashash, waving a palm leaf hand fan to cool off the sweltering summer heat. . . .

Many tribesmen are illiterate and have little chance of finding work outside the farms. They want compensation for land used by foreign oil companies, or for companies to employ them.

Brian MacQuarrie of the Boston Globe describes dangers that still face U.S. troops in Iraq even though their participation in combat is officially over and Americans have large forgotten the war. Writes MacQuarrie, "The mission now has transformed into one of keeping peace long enough to orchestrate the massive drawdown of troops and machines accumulated over eight years of fighting, and to prepare an Iraqi security force capable of curbing the sectarian fighting that some fear could plunge the country into civil war. It is a mission that does not result in many casualties — 36 Americans have died since Sept. 1 — but the threat is continuous and real."

Afghanistan Update

An investigation was underway Sunday into allegations that a coalition airstrike in southern Afghanistan killed a dozen children and two women, Afghan and NATO officials said. The incident occurred Saturday in Nawzad district, Helmand province, apparently as an attack was underway against an ISAF convoy. It seems this is a regular feature of our Sunday posts. It wouldn't be complete without one. -- C

Separately the governor of Nuristan on Sunday said that 18 civilians and 20 police were killed by "friendly fire" during US-led air strikes against insurgents in his troubled northeastern province. This incident allegedly occurred on Wednesday.

Suicide bomb attack on a high level meeting in Takhar province kills Gen. Daoud Daoud, police chief of north Afghanistan, a former deputy interior minister. Also killed in the attack were a provincial police chief, two more police, and two German soldiers. The death of Daoud is seen as a significant blow to efforts to develop the Afghan police.

Quote of the Day

No more. Nobody else. I think about my brother every day of my life. Every day is his Memorial Day.

Ryan Tinsley, brother of army medic Logan Tinsley, KIA Dec. 26, 2006, near Baghdad.

War News for Saturday, May 28, 2011

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier when a helicopter crashed in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Friday, May 26th.

NATO is reporting the deaths of eight ISAF soldiers from an IED blast(s) in an undisclosed location(s) in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, May 26th. News reports that 2 ied attacks killed eight American soldiers.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Friday, May 27th.

The British MoD is reporting the deaths of two British ISAF marines from an IED blast in the Loy Mandeh area of the Nad-e Ali (North) District, Helmand Province, Afghanistan on Friday, May 27th. Here's the ISAF release.

The DND/CF is reporting the death of a Canadian ISAF soldier from a non-combat related incident at FOB Zangabad 45 Kilometres southwest of Kandahar Airfield, Kandahar province, Afghanistan on Friday, May 27th. Here's the ISAF release.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, May 28th.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, May 28th.

The Georgian MoD is reporting the death of a Georgian ISAF soldier from an IED blast in Helmand province, Afghanistan on an undisclosed date. At this time we are listing this as a new death without an ISAF release.

The MoD of Spain is reporting the death of a Spanish ISAF airman from apparently natural causes/illness at a FOB in Herat, Afghanistan on Thursday, May 26th.


Reported security incidents

Diyala Prv:
#1: Anti-explosives unit forces disabled on Saturday morning a bomb placed near the old mosque of Al Mukhaimisa village, northeastern Baaquba.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: TWO Australian soldiers have been wounded after their vehicle struck an improvised explosive device while on patrol in southern Afghanistan.

#2: At least eight people were killed and 12 injured Saturday morning when Pakistani Taliban triggered a remote-controlled blast in the northwest tribal region bordering Afghanistan, a media report said. The blast took place at a marketplace in Salarzai area of Bajaur Agency, Geo News reported. Citing local Urdu TV channel ARY, Xinhua reported that the blast took place at about 10.55 a.m. inside a tea shop where some anti-Taliban local tribal leaders were sitting together. It was a planted bomb, witnesses said, adding that seven shops near the blast site were also destroyed.

#3: The Taliban tried to crash the Canadian army’s party Friday by launching an attack on the ceremonial opening of a road in the heart of the perilous Panjwaii district. The speakers weren’t even finished and pieces of the ribbon had just been picked up when a pair of explosions rang out, followed by small-arms fire. Canadian and Afghan troops scrambled to reinforce the defences around the combat outpost where the ceremony took place. The soldiers returned fire, but everything went quiet when two American AH-64 Apache gunships swooped down and began circling the base, which was recently carved out of the hardscrabble farmland and scrub.

#4: ISAF troops killed several insurgents during a patrol in Musa Qala district of southern Helmand province on Friday, ISAF said.


DoD: Chief Warrant Officer Christopher R. Thibodeau

DoD: Staff Sgt. Joseph J. Hamski

DoD: Tech. Sgt. Kristoffer M. Solesbee

DND/CF: Bombardier Karl Manning

Geo/MoD: Junior Sergeant Lavrosi Ivaniadze

: Air Force lieutenant Pedro López MolinaSP/MOD

War News for Wednesday, May 25, 2011

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, May 24th.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in northern Afghanistan on Wednesday, May 25th.


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: A car bomb in a parked vehicle targeting the convoy of an Iraqi army major general wounded five people in Baghdad's northern district of Qahira, an Interior Ministry source said. The major general escaped unhurt.


Diyala Prv:
#1: An employee of the Oil Derivatives Directorate in Iraq’s Diala Province has been killed by unknown gunmen northeast of its center city of Baaquba, a Diala security source said on Wednesday. “A group of armed men opened fire on an employee in Diala’s Oil Derivates Directorate in Khanaqin township, 155 km to the northeast of Baaquba, killing him on the spot, whilst the attackers escaped to an unknown destination,” the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Babel Prv:
#1: A US hummer was burnt today by the explosion of bomb directed against American military convoy, security sources said. The source added to Aswat al-Iraq that the US forces detained a nearby person and handed over to the Iraqi police. No other details were given on human casualties.


Kirkuk:
#1: Gunmen in a passing car opened fire on a policeman, wounding him, in central Kirkuk, which is 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#2: A roadside bomb killed a police colonel and wounded two of his bodyguards in a southern part of Kirkuk, police said.

#3: Police found the body of a man with bullet wounds to the head in central Kirkuk late on Tuesday, police said.

#4: The Director of west Kirkuk’s Dibbis township, Lt. Brigadier, Hussein Ni’ama Hawas, has been killed in an explosive charge blast on Wednesday, while on his way for work, along with two of his guards injured, a Kirkuk security source said. “An explosive charge, planted on the roadside close to al-Nida’a Bridge in Kirkuk, blew off on Wednesday morning, killing the Police Director of Dibbis township, 45 km to the west of Kirkuk, while on his way for work, and wounding two of his guards,” the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Mosul:
#1: Two building workers have been injured in an attack by unknown gunmen in northern Iraq’s city of Mosul on Tuesday, a Ninewa security source said. “Two building workers were injured early today (Tuesday), when a group of unknown armed men opened fire on them in Mosul’s al-Quds district,” the security source added. He said the armed men “broke through a house, where the two men were working, opened fire on them and escaped to an unknown destination.”



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Taliban insurgents ambushed and killed eight Afghan security guards and abducted another two in the Bakwa district of western Farah province on Tuesday, provincial police chief Sayed Mohammad Sharindel said.

#2: Taliban fighters captured a government building on Wednesday in a mountainous region in eastern Afghanistan, seizing control of half of the remote district and leaving at least three police officers dead, officials said. The assault took place in Duab district of Nuristan province, where government forces have been battling insurgents off and on for weeks near the border with Pakistan. The provincial governor, Jamaludin Badar, told The Associated Press that the Taliban overran the district compound using heavy weaponry like mortars and rocket-propelled grenades against the lightly armed Afghan police. No Afghan military or NATO forces patrol Nuristan, where intense fighting continued on Wednesday. Eight Taliban fighters have been killed in the last several days of fighting there, Badar said. He said the Taliban now controlled the western part of Duab district.


DoD: Sgt. 1st Class Clifford E. Beattie

DoD: Pfc. Ramon Mora Jr.

War News for Tuesday, May 24, 2011

The British MoD is reporting the death of a British ISAF soldier from an IED attack in the Sayedabad Kalay area of the Nahr-e Saraj (South) district, Helmand province, Afghanistan on Monday, May 23rd. Here's the ISAF release.

The Australian MoD is reporting the death of an Australian ISAF soldier from an IED blast presumably in Uruzgan province, Afghanistan on Monday, May 23rd. Two additional soldiers were wounded in the attack.


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: “An explosive charge, stuck to a taxi, blew off close to northern Baghdad’s al-Bakriya district, killing its driver and wounding a civilian that accompanied him,” the security source said.

#2: He said that a booby-trapped car, parked in a garage in northern Baghdad’s Kathimiya district, blew off, wounding 8 persons, including 3 policemen.


Basra:
#1: A woman was slightly wounded and damages hit an American armored vehicle when a bomb exploded in the desert area east of Basrah, a U.S. forces media source announced here today. The source told Aswat al-Iraq that the bomb was directed against the U.S. convoy, but no human casualties were reported on the American side.


Kirkuk:
#1: A roadside bomb wounded a street cleaner when it went off in southern Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.


Riyadh:
#1: Gunmen shot indiscriminately, killing a woman in al-Riyadh town southwest of Kirkuk, police said.


Mosul:
#1: Three Iraqi soldiers were wounded by a bomb explosion west of Mosul, security sources announced today. The source added to Aswat al-Iraq that the bomb was directed against military patrol. Among the wounded was a lieutenant officer.

#2: Two soldiers were killed by a shooting directed against a checking point west of Mosul, security sources said today. The sources informed Aswat Al-Iraq that the two soldiers were killed by a gunfire equipped with silencers during their post in checking point.

#3: The Commander of the Emergency Battalion of northern Iraq’s Sinjar Police, Lt.
Brigadier, Dhiab Hamid, had escaped an assassination attempt north of Mosul on Monday, a Mosul security source said. “Lt. Brigadier, Dhiab Hamid, the Commander of Sinjar Police’s 2nd Emergency Battalion, was attacked by a group of unknown gunmen on the main road, connecting Sinjar with Mosul, but he was not hurt,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: An Iraqi police officer has been killed and another officer injured, in an armed attack against them in west Iraq’s Anbar Province on Monday, according to an Anbar security source. “Three armed men, using a civilian car, have attacked a police checkpoint in the so-called KM-70 of Qaim township, 260 km to the west of Ramadi, killing a police officer, with a major rank, whilst another officer with a lieutenant rank was injured, along with the injury of one of the attackers, who flew to an unknown destination,” the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A roadside bomb killed 10 labourers and wounded 28 on Tuesday as they were driving to work to clean streams in southern Afghanistan, officials said. The roadside bomb tore through a truck carrying the workers through restive Kandahar province, said Dr. Qayoum Pakhla, the director of Kandahar Hospital.

#2: Meanwhile, Ahmad Ziad, a deputy chief at the National Directorate for Security, was unharmed in an attempted suicide bombing that targeted his convoy as he was travelling to work on Tuesday morning, Kabul police said. Ziad's bodyguards opened fire on a suspicious sport utility vehicle that was coming at the convoy, wounding the driver and stopping the speeding SUV laden with explosives, the police said. The driver was arrested and hospitalized under guard, pending an investigation.

#3: NATO says that one of its aircraft has crashed in western Afghanistan. The coalition says no one on board the aircraft was hurt. NATO said in a statement Tuesday that soldiers have secured the crash site and are protecting those who were on the aircraft. The coalition says the reason for the crash remains unknown and an investigation is under way.

A French fighter jet crashed in western Afghanistan on Tuesday, although the crew escaped without injury and enemy fire was not to blame, a French army spokesman said. “A Mirage 2000-D crashed 100 kilometres west of Farah,” French army spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Eric de Lapresle told AFP. He excluded enemy fire as the cause of the crash, the first of a French plane during the near 10-year conflict in Afghanistan. “The crew are in good health and have been recovered,” the spokesman added.

#4: Four children were killed by a bomb in a playground in northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, said police commander Daad Mohammad Wafa.

#5: Afghan and ISAF troops killed seven insurgents in Kunar province in Afghanistan's volatile east, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. A combined force came under attack by insurgents during a patrol in Kunar's Noor Gul district, it said

#6: Seven militants were killed in a US drone strike on Monday destroyed a vehicle in which they were travelling in North Waziristan. The attack took place near Mir Ali, some 30 kilometres east of Miramshah, the main town of the tribal area where US officials want Pakistan to launch an offensive against networks fighting in Afghanistan. “A US drone fired two missiles which hit a vehicle. At least seven militants have been killed,” one security official in Peshawar said. Another intelligence official in Miramshah said two drones fired four missiles, hitting a van and killing at least seven militants.

#7: In a separate incident yesterday, three (Australian) soldiers suffered gunshot and fragmentation wounds during an engagement with insurgents. They were aero-medically evacuated and remain in a stable condition.


Au/DoD: Sergeant Brett Wood

War News for Monday, May 23, 2011

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED blast in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday, May 22nd. The ISAF has a duplicate release for this attack.

The AFP is reporting the deaths of two U.S. soldiers while conducting operations in an undisclosed location in central Iraq on Sunday, May 22nd. Various news reports that the patrol hit a roadside bomb either in the outskirts or in Amiryah the district of Baghdad and two or three additional soldiers were wounded in the attack.

NATO is reporting the deaths of four ISAF soldiers from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, May 23rd.


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: And in Baghdad, a car bomb blew up in the eastern Zayouna neighbourhood at around 4:00 am (0100 GMT), destroying 13 shops, including seven alcohol stores, an interior ministry official said. There were no casualties resulting from the attack, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

#2: A road-side bomb wounded six people in the western district of Khadra, an Interior Ministry source said.

#3: Four people were hit in two consecutive explosions to the east of Baghdad, security sources said today. The source informed Aswat al-Iraq that the two bombs were planted on the side of the road east of Baghdad, which led to four civilian casualties, including the personal driver of government spokesman's advisor.


Wadssit Prv:
#1: An American military convoy was hit today by a Katyusha rocket in Wassit province, police sources said. The source added to Aswat al-Iraq that an unknown armed groupt shot the convoy with the rocket 40 km north west Kut. The rocket damaged one of the vehicles. There have been no reports on human casualties.


Kirkuk:
#1: A car bomb struck an Iraqi police convoy Monday in the disputed city of Kirkuk, killing two bystanders and wounding five police officers, an interior ministry official said. The blast Monday targeted a convoy carrying the captain of a local police station, the official said. The captain, Ahmed Abdul-Ghafour, was wounded in the blast, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.

A morning car bomb targeting the convoy of a police commander in Al-Rashad, south of Kirkuk city, killed two policemen and wounded 12 other people, an officer said. Major Ahmed al-Barzanji and four other policemen were among the wounded.

#2: On the road to Kirkuk from Tuz Khurmatu further south, a roadside bomb targeting a patrol in the early hours killed a captain and another soldier, the town's police chief, Colonel Ali Hamdani, said. Two more soldiers were wounded.


Mosul:
#1: A mortar round landed on an Iraqi army base, wounding one soldier in eastern Mosul, police said.

#2: A roadside bomb targeting an Iraqi Army patrol killed one civilian and wounded two soldiers in eastern Mosul, police said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Afghan troops killed four insurgents during a gun battle in the Zherai district of southern Kandahar province, the Defence Ministry said.

#2: A suicide bomber struck a crowded Afghan bazaar on Monday, killing four civilians and wounding another 14 in a remote town in the east of the country. There were no government offices or military patrols in the area where the incident happened in the small town of Najeel Khail in Alishing district of Laghman province, about 100 kilometres (60 miles) east of the capital Kabul.

#3: Elsewhere in Afghanistan on Monday, the interior ministry said seven insurgents were killed after Afghan and foreign forces repelled an attempted ambush in the highly unstable eastern province of Kunar, which borders Pakistan.

#4: Troops recaptured Pakistan's naval air force headquarters on Monday after a 16-hour battle with Taliban gunmen who had stormed the facility in the most brazen attack since the killing of Osama bin Laden. More than 20 militants assaulted the PNS Mehran base in the city of Karachi late on Sunday, blowing up at least one aircraft and laying siege to a main building in one of the most heavily guarded bases in the unstable, nuclear-armed country. At least 12 military personnel were killed and 14 wounded in the assault that started at 10.30 p.m. on Sunday (1730 GMT), a navy spokesman said.

#5: A Jordanian officer was killed and four soldiers injured Sunday when a roadside bomb exploded as a humanitarian convoy passed by in the Afghan province of Lugar, a spokesman for the Jordanian armed forces said in a statement. The statement, carried by the official Petra news agency, identified the officer killed as First Lieutenant Majed Abu Qudairi. "The four wounded are in good health," the Army spokesman said.

War News for Sunday, May 22, 2011

Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: The bombings began early with a car bomb and four roadside bombs exploding in quick succession near the federal police headquarters in southwest Baghdad, killing two and wounding 15 others, two Interior Ministry officials said.

First a roadside bomb targeted a police patrol. Then a minute later another roadside bomb went off in a commercial street followed by two roadside bombs hidden in a pile of garbage on a highway. Finally, a parked car bomb went off on a road that marks the intersection between Bayaa and the adjoining neighborhood. In total, five people were killed in Bayaa, including 2 policemen, and 15 people were injured, including six policemen, police and hospital officials said. They did not have a breakdown of where the deaths occurred

#2: That was followed by a car bomb that targeted the convoy of an Interior Ministry official in eastern Baghdad, killing one person and wounding five others, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.

#3-4: Two roadside bombs struck near a hospital and an outdoor market in Baghdad's Shiite enclave of Sadr City, killing two and wounding 12, while an explosion wounded three in the predominantly Sunni neighborhood of al-Saydiya, the two officials said.

#3: At about 7 a.m. a car bomb in a parking lot in eastern Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood exploded, injuring five people and damaging several nearby cars.

#4: Minutes later, also in Sadr City, a bomb hidden in a pile of garbage exploded, killing one person and wounding five more.

#5-6: Two more roadside bombs struck an Iraqi police patrol in central Baghdad, killing one and wounding 12, the officials said.

#7-9: At least eight more people were wounded in three separate blasts in Baghdad, the officials said.

#8: Deputy Director of Baghdad's Ammanat (Muncipality) escaped an assassination attempt by a sticky bomb in his car, west of Baghdad, according to security sources. The source informed Aswat al-Iraq that Mohammed Aziz Jabbar escaped the assassination attempt in his parked car, but his brother was hurt and hospitalized.


Taji:
#1: A U.S. convoy on the outskirts of Baghdad, near Taji, was targeted by a car bomb, the officials said. When Iraqi police and soldiers arrived to investigate the blast, a suicide bomber standing blew himself up and killed seven Iraqi security members and wounded 10, the officials said.

“A booby-trapped car blew off against a U.S. Army patrol, close to northern Baghdad’s Taji district, causing an unspecified number of casualties among the American patrol and damaging a number of its vehicles, followed by an attack by a suicide bomber, wearing an explosive belt, after the arrival of a police force to the venue of the blast, killing 7 persons and


Kirkuk:
#1: A guard in north Iraq’s Kirkuk city has been killed and his daughter injured in an attack by unknown gunmen west of the city on Saturday night, a Kirkuk police director said. “A group of unknown gunmen opened silencer-gun fire on Saturday night on Hassan Dawood, a guard in a plant in southwest Kirkuk’s Industrial district, killing him on the spot and wounding his daughter,” Kirkuk Police Director, Sarhad Qader told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: “A police patrol has found the corpse of an unknown person, south of Kirkuk, with bullet traces on the body,” Lt. Brigadier, Sarhad Qader told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Gunmen wearing police uniforms and suicide vests stormed a government building in eastern Afghanistan early Sunday, starting a running shootout with Afghan security forces who surrounded the compound, officials said. At least five people were killed in ongoing fighting. In Sunday's incident, four men armed with assault rifles and wearing explosives drove shortly before dawn into a compound that houses the provincial traffic department on the edge of Khost city, said provincial Police Chief Gen. Abdul Hakim Ishaqzai. Security forces stopped the men, who were wearing uniforms of the Afghan Border Police, only after becoming suspicious of the civilian station wagon they drove, he said. Guards opened fire on the attackers, but the men were able to kill a police officer and occupy the upper floors of the building, Ishaqzai said. The attackers shot down on Afghan security forces from their vantage point as a fire raged through the structure. Two of the attackers' suicide vests exploded during the fighting, though it was unclear whether they triggered the bombs or bullets caused them to detonate, Ishaqzai said. Security forces shot a third attacker to death, he said. Explosives found inside the attackers' station wagon were defused. Three police officers, one Afghan soldier and a civilian were killed in the attack, Ishaqzai said. Five police officers and one civilian were wounded. The gunbattle was still going on more than six hours later with the remaining gunman.

#2: Meanwhile, U.S. forces in southern Afghanistan shot a governor's spokesman in the foot Sunday as he arrived to work. Spokesman Zalmai Ayubi leaned on a cane as he spoke with reporters, his left foot bandaged. Ayubi said U.S. forces shot him as he arrived at the gate of the Kandahar governor's office for no reason. In a statement to the AP, NATO forces confirmed the shooting, saying Ayubi had grappled with a guard as he "attempted to physically bypass security" at the office. "In the ensuing altercation, the U.S. soldier's rifle was discharged, hitting the spokesman in the foot," NATO said.

#3: Also Sunday, two women were killed and five other people wounded when a roadside bomb exploded in the southern province of Zabul, the Afghan Interior Ministry said.

#4: Taliban insurgents killed three police and wounded four in an attack on a police outpost in the Obe district of western Herat province, said district police chief Sher Agha.

#5: Afghan troops killed four insurgents during a gun battle in the Zherai district of southern Kandahar province, the Defence Ministry said.