War News for Friday, October 21, 2011

U.S. shutters northern headquarters in Iraq


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: Three roadside bombs killed three civilians and wounded 12 others, including three policemen, when they exploded in quick succession near a restaurant in Baghdad's eastern Habibiya district, police and hospital sources said.


Kurdistan:
#1: Hundreds of Turkish commandos backed by helicopter gunships attacked Kurdish militants in northern Iraq on Thursday, officials said, in an offensive to avenge the deaths of 24 soldiers a day earlier. Turkish security officials estimated their forces, numbering about 1,000 inside Iraq, had killed 21 fighters from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). It was unclear how deep into Iraq this counter-offensive could go. The military said it had put troops from 22 battalions into the field for ground attacks in five different areas on either side of the border, and it had also launched air strikes.

#2: Turkish jets kept up bombing raids on Kurdish rebel bases in northern Iraq overnight, as the rebels confirmed that some Turkish troops crossed into Iraq, officials and media reports said Friday. Turkish war planes continued to take off from Diyarbakir, the regional capital of the mainly Kurdish southeast. The Turkish army said Friday that the air and ground strikes against the rebels are "mainly" in Turkey. "While the majority of the land and air operations are in (Turkey), mainly in the Cukurca region, ground and air strikes are ongoing in a few points in northern Iraq across the border," the army said in a statement posted on its website.


Kirkuk:
#1: A landmine seriously wounded four children when it went off in north-west Kirkuk, police said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: At least 13 Afghan civilians have been injured after a US-led airstrike targeting suspected Taliban militants hit a house in Afghanistan's northeastern province of Kunar. The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) issued a statement on Friday and confirmed the incident, Reuters reported. The assault came after US-led foreign forces returned fire following an attack by militants. "Air assets arrived on the scene and during the incident one munition from a coalition aircraft fell short of the insurgent position, impacting a civilian house," ISAF statement said. On Wednesday, one Afghan civilian was killed and six others were kidnapped after US military forces attacked a residential area in eastern province of Nangarhar.

#2: NATO says "numerous" insurgents have been killed in an airstrike in a southern Afghan province. NATO says coalition and Afghan forces carried out the strike, targeting a group of Taliban fighters. It didn't give a precise number for killed insurgents and it was unclear when the strike took place.

#3: Militants armed with rockets and hand grenades attacked the house of a prominent anti-Taliban elder in Pakistan’s tribal belt on Friday, killing three people, officials said. The gunmen struck in the Minzari Chinaa area, 90 kilometres (55 miles) northwest of Ghalanai, the main town in the district of Mohmand where the military has conducted a series of operations against the Taliban. “A group of 45 militants attacked the house of Noor Mohammad, who heads the local peace committee, with hand grenades and rockets, killing his two sons and a daughter-in-law,” local official Javed Khan said.

#4: In the neighbouring tribal district of Bajaur, at least three gunmen shot dead a member of a local peace committee in Chinar, 45 kilometres northeast of Bajaur’s main town of Khar late Thursday, a local official said.

#5: A paramilitary vehicle hit a landmine in the northwestern region of Mohmand, wounding six soldiers, a government official in the region said. Hours later, security forces killed six Taliban and wounded three in a fight after militants attacked a paramilitary patrol in the same region, a government official said.

#6: Security forces shot dead a militant after he threw a hand grenade near a police checkpoint in the outskirts of Peshawar, wounding a passer-by and policeman, police said.

#7: Two suspected militants and one policeman were killed in a shootout in the northwestern town of Bannu, police said.

#8: A roadside bomb blast killed two soldiers and wounded three in the northwestern Khyber region on the Afghan border, a military spokesman said.

#9: Several insurgents were killed in a joint air strike by Afghan and NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) forces in Zabul province, south-west of Kabul, the coalition said in a statement. No civilians were harmed, and two suspect insurgents were detained, it said.


DoD: Staff Sgt. Jorge M. Oliveira

DoD: Chief Petty Officer Raymond J. Border

War News for Thursday, October 20, 2011

NATO is reporting the deaths of two ISAF soldiers from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, October 18th.


IED attacks increase outside of Afghanistan, Iraq -- In September, the bombs killed 18 U.S. troops and wounded 420 others, according to the Pentagon data.

Terrorists threaten Pak oil firm to stop fuel supplies to army, Afghan-bound NATO forces

National Guard (in Federal Status) and Reserve Activated as of October 18, 2011


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: An Iraqi Army officer has been killed by unknown gunmen in north Baghdad's Aadamiya district on Thursday, a security source reported. "Iraqi Army Col. Hashem Abdul-Ghafour has been killed close to his house in Aadamiya district, north of Baghdad, by a group of gunmen using silence-fixed guns," the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Kut:
#1: A US Army patrol has come under an explosive charge blast west of Kut, the center of southern Iraq Province of Wassit on Wednesday night, but losses were not known, a Wassit Police source reported on Thursday. "An explosive charge blew off against a US Army patrol on its way to Delta base, used by the American forces as their headquarters, 7 km to the west of Kut on Wednesday evening," the police source told Aswat lraq news agency.


Northern Iraq:
#1: Turkish warplanes and helicopter gunships have attacked Kurdish rebels on the second day of a retaliatory air and ground offensive across the Iraqi border. About a dozen warplanes flew several bombing sorties out of two military bases in the country's southeast until sunrise, the state-run TRT television said.

Many areas in Arbil and Duhuk provinces are under Turkish and Iranian fire under the pretext of chasing PKK and PJAK parties, which led to a number of casualties, damages and immigration of inhabitants.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: One civilian was killed and four wounded in bomb blast mid of Ramadi, police sources in Anbar province said here today. The source told Aswat al-Iraq that the bomb exploded inside a civilian car near Anbar Health Department, which led to killing its owner. After five minutes another bomb exploded by the side of the road near the first explosion, which led to wounding four civilians.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Two soldiers and five militants were killed on Thursday in gunbattles in Pakistan’s Khyber tribal district along the Afghan border, officials said. The fighting erupted when Pakistan’s paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC) launched a search operation in the Malik din Khel area of Khyber. Two FC personnel were killed and three were wounded.

At least four Pakistani soldiers were killed in an attack by suspected militants in the country's restive Khyber tribal region bordering Afghanistan on Thursday, state television reported. PTV reported that 8 more soldiers were injured in an attack at a security checkpost in Bara area of Khyber agency near the Afghan border. The security forces returned fire at the direction of the attack and injured two militants, the report said. The forces also launched a search operation after the attack and shelled hideouts of the militants.

#2: NATO and Afghan forces have killed at least 115 insurgents over the past week as part of an ongoing operation in a northeastern Afghanistan province, the coalition said Thursday, as it looks to curb insurgent activity along the border with neighboring Pakistan. The fighting in Kunar province, known for its rugged terrain that leaves coalition supply lines from Pakistan vulnerable to insurgent attacks. NATO said the operation has been going on since around Oct. 15 and has included the use of fighter jets and long-range bombers. The alliance said that one NATO service member has been killed since the fighting began. It was not immediately clear if any Afghan troops had been killed. "This is a series of multiple, smaller operations that have a combined, larger impact," said Master Sgt. Nicholas Conner, a NATO spokesman

War News for Wednesday, October 19, 2011

The DoD is reporting a new death unreported by the military. Staff Sgt. James R. Leep Jr. died from unreported causes somewhere in Babil province Iraq on Wednesday, October 17th.


Turkey launches incursion into Iraq, kills 15 terrorists near border --(PKK) killed 26 security members

First 200 French soldiers to leave Afghanistan

U.S. Deploys Kamikaze Drones to Attack Afghan Taliban Targets


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: A lieutenant colonel from the Interior Ministry's counter-terrorism unit escaped unharmed when gunmen using silenced weapons opened fire on his car in Baghdad's southern Doura district, an Interior Ministry source said. The source said the lieutenant colonel's driver was wounded in the incident.

#2: A sticky bomb attached to a car seriously wounded an Oil Ministry employee and another passenger when it went off in Baghdad's west-central Yarmouk district, an Interior Ministry source said.


Mosul:
#1: Gunmen using silenced weapons killed a judge and his driver as the judge was on his way to work in eastern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, a police source said.


Qandil region:
#1: Turkish planes on Wednesday bombed Kurdish rebel bases in northern Iraq in retaliation for attacks that killed at least 26 Turkish soldiers, security sources said. The air raids targeted Qandil region, the main rear base of the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the mountains of Iraq, the sources said. About 2,000 PKK rebels are holed up in northern Iraq where they infiltrate Turkish soil to launch attacks, according to Ankara. A few hundred Turkish soldiers crossed into northern Iraq to hunt down PKK rebels who killed the soldiers, Kurdish news agency Firatnews reported.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: The spokesman for the governor of Herat province says five Afghan army troops were killed by a roadside mine. Mohyaddin Noori said the four soldiers and one officer were on their way back to their base in the western Afghanistan province's Pashtun Zarghun district at about 10 a.m. Wednesday, and the mine blew up as their army pickup truck was passing by.

#2: In an incident in neighbouring Badghis province, a suicide bombing killed three members of the same family. 'A suicide bomber who came on foot blew himself up next to a convoy of the Afghan army near a health clinic in Bala Murghab district of Badghis, killing three civilians and injuring two Afghan National Army soldiers,' said Dilbar Jaan Arman, the governor of Badghis province. 'All three were from the same family: a father who was the driver of the vehicle along with his two sons. All of them were civilians,' Arman added.

#3: Unidentified armed men on Tuesday, torched two NATO tankers in Dasht area of Mastung district, a local Levies official reported. The tankers were heading towards Afghanistan from Karachi carrying fuel for NATO forces, when the attackers opened fire and set them ablaze on RCD Highway. ‘The tankers were completely gutted’, an official said, adding, that a driver sustained bullet injuries in the attack and was shifted to Quetta for treatment.

#4: Police on Tuesday found the corpses of two women killed by unknown gunmen in the Gozara district of Herat, a spokesman for the provincial governor said. Motives for the killings were unknown.

#5: Eight Afghan security guards were killed when insurgents attacked their compound in the Gereshk district of southern Helmand overnight, the provincial governor's spokesman Dawood Ahmadi said.

#6: Three civilians were killed when several homemade bombs exploded under a bridge in western Herat city while police were attempting to defuse them, the Interior Ministry said. Five others, including a policeman, were wounded.

#7: A roadside bomb killed three civilians and wounded two in Andar district of Ghazni province, southwest of Kabul, the U.S. military said.

#8: A detainee being held by troops from the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was found dead in his holding cell in southern Afghanistan, the alliance said in a statement. The man was captured during a military operation on Saturday and was found dead the following day in his cell in Kandahar province, it said. It did not give further details and said an investigation was under way.

#9: Tribesmen clashed with Taliban militants in northwestern Kurram on the Afghan border. Two militants died and their hideouts set ablaze, a government official in the region said. There was no independent confirmation of the event.

#10: A suicide car bomber attacked a checkpost in the northwestern Lakki Marwat after security forces opened fire on him, wounding three passers-by, police said. Lakki Marwat borders North Waziristan, a known sanctuary for al Qaeda and Taliban militants on the Afghan border.

#11: Six missiles fired by two U.S. drone aircraft hit a house and vehicle in North Waziristan region on the Afghan border, killing six militants, Pakistani intelligence officials in the region said.

#12: Militants shot dead a Pakistani tribesman and dumped his body on the side of a road in North Waziristan's main town of Miranshah with a note accusing him of spying for U.S. forces in Afghanistan, government officials said.

#13: Militants on motorcycles attacked and torched three tankers transporting fuel for U.S.-led coalition forces in Afghanistan in the southwestern Baluchistan province, police said.

#14: Five insurgents were killed on Tuesday when troops with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) raided their position in Wardak province 35 km west of capital city of Kabul, an official said on Wednesday. "Five armed militants were busy in planting anti-vehicle mines in Luwri area of Sayyedabad district of Wardak province late on Tuesday but troops with ISAF targeted their position killing all on the spot," a spokesman for provincial government, Shahidullah Shahid told Xinhua.


DoD: Spc. Michael D. Elm

DoD: Staff Sgt. James R. Leep Jr.

War News for Tuesday, October 18, 2011

US Dept of Defense - U.S. Forces in Iraq Prepare for Transition


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
1: A parked car bomb went off in Karrada, a central district of Baghdad, killing eight people including three policemen and wounded eighteen others late on Monday, police and hospital sources said.

#2: A roadside bomb blew up killing a civilian and wounding five others late on Monday in Palestine Street, north-eastern Baghdad, police said.


Diyala Prv:
#1: Gunmen stormed a barber shop, killed three customers and wounded the barber late on Monday in Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) northeast of Baghdad, police said.

#2: Three civilians were wounded when a roadside bomb went off near their car in the village of Bani Zaid, west of the provincial capital city of Baquba, some 65 km northeast of Baghdad, a source from Diyala's operations command told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

#3: In a separate incident, a policeman was wounded when a sticky bomb attached to his car detonated in the town of Baladruz, some 30 km east of Baquba, the source said.


Tikrit
#1: Gunmen stormed a tribal sheikh's house and killed one of his body guards late on Monday in Tikrit, 150 km (95 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.


Kirkuk:
#1: A soldier was injured in a bomb explosion in Kirkuk on Sunday targeting his patrol in Al Nida’a Street central Al Hawaija district south-western Kirkuk.

#2: A policeman was also injured in a bomb explosion on a checkpoint in Al Quds Street in Tesiin district southern Kirkuk.


Mosul:
#1: Gunmen shot dead a tribal leader late on Monday in northern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, a police source said.

A tribal personality was assassinated by unknown gunmen, security sources said today. The source told Aswat al-Iraq that the unknown gunmen this afternoon killed Mohammed Khalid Dhahir al-Shirabi, north of Mosul.

#2: Gunmen using silenced weapons shot dead a bakery worker late on Monday in eastern Mosul, a local police source said.

#3: Gunmen shot dead a civilian late on Monday in western Mosul, a local police source said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Paramilitary forces have raided a militant hideout in Pakistan’s rugged tribal region near the Afghan border, sparking fighting that killed nine soldiers and 14 insurgents, officials said. Clashes are common in the area, but the death toll from the fighting Monday was unusually high on the Pakistani side. The raid took place in Akka Khel village in the Khyber tribal area, said Farooq Khan, a senior local government official. Pakistan army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas confirmed the number of soldiers killed and said they were from the paramilitary Frontier Corps, which is mainly used to fight in the northwest. Another military official said helicopter gunships were called in to support the troops after the fighting escalated. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to reporters.

#2: Seven troops of Afghan National Army (ANA) were killed and another missing after Taliban attack in Bakwa district of western Farah province yesterday, an ANA officer said Monday. Taliban gunmen ambushed an ANA convoy in Poza area of Bakwa district, killing seven troops, a high-ranking Afghan National Army official told AIP.


DoD: Staff Sgt. Houston M. Taylor

MoD: Rifleman Vijay Rai

War News for Monday, October 17, 2011

The British MoD is reporting the death of a British ISAF soldier from a small arms fire attack/gunshot wound in the Nahr-e Saraj district, Helmand province, Afghanistan on Saturday, October 15th.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED blast in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Friday, October 14th.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, October 15th. News reports that an Estonian soldier died in a firefight in Helmand province. Three additional soldiers were wounded in the attack.


Afghan-Pakistan cross-border fire frustrates troops

Taliban cracks Afghanistan's fortress

Gurkha who beheaded Taliban soldier in Afghanistan battle cleared to return to duty

Hundreds of US troops seal NWA border

NATO chopper violates Pak air space


Reported security incidents

Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Afghan police shot dead three suicide bombers attempting to target mayoral offices in the east of the country on Sunday, but a car bomb set up for the attack blew up, killing one worker, an official said. "At around noon, three suicide attackers with an explosives-packed vehicle tried to enter the municipality building in Gardez and target the city hall, but they were stopped and killed by the police," Rohullah Samoon, spokesman for Paktia provincial governor, told AFP. He said the attackers left their bomb-rigged vehicle, which detonated before foreign troops were able to arrive to defuse it, killing one worker.

#2: A suicide bomber targeted a provincial head of Afghanistan's intelligence agency today, wounding the spy and killing a child in the increasingly volatile north of the country. The bomber detonated next to a car carrying the National Directorate of Security (NDS) official at 8:20am (3:50 GMT) in Maymanah in Faryab province, Lal Mohammad, police spokesman for the northern region, told AFP. "The chief of NDS was going to his office when the attacker, a person wearing a suicide vest, detonated near his car. "One child is killed and six other people, including the provincial chief of NDS, are injured," said Mohammad. Mohammad had said initially that a "number of civilians" were killed. Faryab police chief Sayed Ahmad Sameh confirmed the NDS official was the target.


DoD: Staff Sgt. Robert B. Cowdrey

DoD: Spc. Jeremiah T. Sancho

EST/MoD: Corporal Agris Hutrof

News of the Day for Sunday, October 16, 2011

Reported Security Incidents

Mosul

A civilian is killed by unknown gunmen in front of his house on Saturday. No other information now available.

Khaniqin

As thousands demonstrate to protest removal of the Kurdish flag from government buildings, a protestor sets himself on fire. The man is reported to have survived.

Other News of the Day

The Associated Press is reporting that the U.S. has abandoned plans to keep 5,000 troops in Iraq in 2012, and will retain only 160 embassy guards.

However, Administration spokespeople deny this report, saying that negotiations with the Iraqi government over this issue continue.

Iraqi PM Nuri al-Maliki implies that U.S. troops might remain as trainers, but will not receive immunity from Iraqi law. This has been the sticking point all along. The U.S. has said it will not leave troops in Iraq without immunity, and will find another way to provide training should Iraq fail to grant it. -- C

This AFP story has more details on the demonstration in Khaniqin. This territorial dispute between Arabs and Kurds threatens the integrity of Iraq and is one of the major concerns which has made the U.S. reluctant to fully withdraw. -- C

Juan Cole (who, contrary to some accusations, was absolutely opposed to the U.S. intervention in Iraq from the beginning) discusses the history of the Status of Forces Agreement and the political developments which have lead to the coming withdrawal. He concludes:

And so that is the way the war ends. No great demonstrations in the US against it in its twilight. It is ending almost by default, because the Iraqi parliament can seldom get real legislation done, the US is forced to adhere to the 2008 SOFA. In the background, the bombs are still going off and the country is riven by ethnic disputes. The US will receive no benefit from its illegal war of aggression, no permanent bases, no bulwark against Iran, no new Arab friend to Israel, no $14 a barrel petroleum– all thing things Washington had dreamed of. Dreams that turned out to be flimsy and unsubstantial and tragic.

Afghanistan Update

A British soldier is shot dead on Saturday while guarding a checkpoint in Helmand Province. ISAF announces that two soldiers were killed on Saturday, apparently including the fatality announced by Britain, but giving no further information. Apparently the British soldier was actually a Ghurka from Nepal.

The Governor of Paktia Province survives an assassination attempt as he arrives at this office, but a police officer and municipal employee are killed, and four civilians wounded. Three of the attackers are dead, and one is believed to have escaped. The AFP account is slightly different, in that it does not specify the Governor as the target of the attack. It also says the municipal employee was killed by a car bomb left behind by the attackers, and does not mention the dead police officer.

Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security is investigating itself over accusations that its agents beat a prisoner nearly to death in Khost in September. This follows a UN report that Afghan security forces routinely torture prisoners. Apologies for annoying pop-up ad for sausage, in Spanish. -- C

German President Christian Wulff makes a surprise visit to Afghanistan, apparently in preparation for a conference on Afghanistan to be held in Bonn in December. In case you're wondering why you've never heard of Wulff, the German presidency is a largely ceremonial office.

War News for Saturday, October 15, 2011

The DoD is reporting a new death unreported by the military. Chief Petty Officer (SEAL) Michael R. Tatham died in a motor cycle accident in Bali, Indonesia while on rest and recuperation leave on Wednesday, October 12th. He was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier during an operation in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Thursday, October 13th.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Friday, October 14th.


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: Gunmen using silenced weapons shot dead a police major in northwestern Baghdad, an interior ministry source said.

#2: Gunmen shot dead a colonel in the Iraqi intelligence service in western Baghdad, the ministry source said.


Diyala Prv:
#1: A roadside bomb went off and wounded six civilians in northeastern Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) northeast of Baghdad, a local police source said.


Kirkuk:
#1: A roadside bomb went off and wounded a civilian in southern Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad late on Friday, a local police source said.


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

#2: Iraqi army forces killed a militant when they pursued him after he killed a civilian in eastern Mosul, police said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: U.S. missiles killed six suspected militants in northwestern Pakistan near the Afghan border Saturday, Pakistani intelligence officials said. The strikes were part of a flurry of such attacks which could indicate a more aggressive American strategy against insurgents finding sanctuary there. In the latest attack, drone-fired missiles slammed into a compound near the border town of Angore Adda in the South Waziristan tribal region.

#2: On Friday, U.S. missiles killed four unidentified people in a part of the North Waziristan tribal region where the Haqqani network holds sway.

#3: Two civilians were killed and three security guards injured when suicide bombers attacked a security forces office in central Afghanistan, officials said on Saturday. 'A car bomb explosion took place within the gates of the Provincial Reconstruction Team in Panjshir early morning followed by four other suicide bombings,' the Interior Ministry press office said. A spokesman for the international troops in Kabul confirmed the attack in Panjshir province, 100 kilometres north of Kabul. 'My reports indicate that there were no coalition casualties involved in this attack,' Sergeant Christopher Dewitt said. Taliban militants took responsibility, saying five suicide bombers stormed the compound.

#4: In the southern province of Kandahar, two Taliban insurgents were killed and three others injured by their own explosive material on Saturday. 'At 8 am this morning, two insurgents were killed and three others injured after an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) went off inside a house in Bakhtiyar village of Kandahar city,' a statement from Kandahar media office said. 'The two killed and three wounded were professionals in making IEDs and were valuable to the insurgents'.

#5: Three armed insurgents were killed and three others injured during a three-day clearing operation by the Afghan National Army in Maiwand district of Kandahar.

#6: Two people were killed in a cross-border attack from Afghanistan into Pakistani territory in Lower Dir on Saturday. Sources say Afghan militants fired five mortars which struck Kharkai village in Lower Dir. The mortars hit several houses in the village, killing two locals and injuring another two. However, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) has not confirmed the attack.

#7: The head of an Islamic school and an Afghan soldier were wounded in separate roadside bombings in Lashkar Gah district of Helmand Province early on Saturday, the provincial governor's office said in a statement.

#8: A suicide car bombing killed three border policemen and wounded three other policemen and one civilian, in Spin Boldak district, southern Kandahar province, Kandahar police chief Abdul Razak said.

#9: A group of militants on Friday opened fire at a police check post in Peshawar, capital of northwestern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, police officials said. One militant was killed in the firefight which occurred on the outskirts of the city.

#10: A NATO helicopter makes forced landing in restive southern Afghanistan on Friday, the military alliance said on Saturday. "n International Security Assistance Force CH-47 helicopter conducted a forced landing during a mission in southern Afghanistan yesterday," NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in a statement. The helicopter was flying a troop transport mission with 12 passengers and five aircrew members on board. Shortly after landing, another ISAF helicopter arrived on the scene and transported the passengers to a nearby ISAF facility without further incident, the statement added. "No members of the aircrew or passengers were harmed," it said.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier during an operation in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Thursday, October 13th.


DoD: Chief Petty Officer (SEAL) Michael R. Tatham

DoD: Lance Cpl. Scott D. Harper