War News for Thursday, March 14, 2013

U.S. General Puts Troops on Security Alert After Karzai Remarks


Reported security incidents
#1: Six Taliban fighters and a policeman were killed in Sangin district of Helmand province yesterday, officials said Wednesday. On the occasion, the Sangin police chief Shamsullah told reporters the Taliban attacked a police patrol in Charkhakano Manda area, two kilometres from Sangin's district headquarters, late yesterday. Six Taliban fighters, including their commanders Mullah Shah Wali and Mullah Abdul Wali, and a cop were killed and two more policemen sustained injuries in the gunfight, he added.

#2: At least 16 militants were killed and 12 others were injured in fresh clashes between banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan and Ansarul Islam in Maidan area of Tirah valley in Khyber Agency, tribal sources said on Wednesday. The sources said that over 299 fighters of TTP descended from Drey Stani hilltop, bordering the Kukikhel area, to Narkhaw area populated by Qambarkhel Afridi tribe in Ansarul Islam-controlled Maidan part of the valley on Tuesday evening and occupied two dozens of houses. Subsequently, around 600 volunteers of AI from different parts of Maidan moved to Narkhaw and launched the counter-attack. The sources said the fighting between the groups was going on till filling of this report. They said that 10 TTP militants and six volunteers of AI were killed and 12 others from both sides were injured.

#3: Casualties were feared Wednesday evening as a suicide bombing went off in an area where Afghan national game of Buzkashi was held in the northern Afghanistan province of Kunduz, local media reported.

#4: national directorate of security (NDS) officails announced at least five Haqqani network militants were during a gun battle in capital Kabul on Wednesday.

War News for Wednesday, March 13, 2013

NATO is reporting the deaths of five ISAF soldiers in a helicopter crash in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, March 10th.

Karzai Bets on Vilifying U.S. to Shed His Image as a Lackey


Reported security incidents
#1: Gunmen shot dead a senior local election official in Quetta on Tuesday, police said, days before parliament is due to dissolve ahead of national polls. The shooting took place in Chandni Chowk, a congested neighbourhood of Quetta, the capital of volatile Balochistan province.

#2: At least three people were killed and 20 other wounded in a suicide blast and subsequent firing near police station in Bannu district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Tuesday. According to local police, intense firing was heard soon after an explosion near Sadar police station of the town where check posts and police stations are often been attacked by militant groups. Police said the suicide bomber targeted police van, resulting two police officials and another unknown man was killed and 20 other people including policemen sustained injuries, officials told the media adding that the van was also completely destroyed.


DoD: Capt. Andrew M. Pedersen-Keel

DoD: Staff Sgt. Rex L. Schad

War News for Tuesday, March 12, 2013

The DoD is reporting a new death previously unreported by the military. Tech. Sgt. Larry D. Bunn died from a non-combat related incident at an undisclosed base in Southwest Asia on Thursday, March 7th.

 

NATO is reporting the deaths of two USAFOR-A soldiers when ANA soldiers turned a weapon on U.S and ANA soldiers in an undisclosed base in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, March 11th. News reports that the ANA soldier fired a PK machine gun attached to an ANA vehicle killing two US special forces members, three Afghan policemen and three Afghan army commandos. Other news reported up to eight additional U.S. soldiers were wounded in the attack.

Erased US data shows 1 in 4 missiles in Afghan airstrikes now fired by drone

Afghan army to receive additional Mobile Strike Force Vehicles


Reported security incidents
#1: A helicopter crash in southern Afghanistan killed five service members with international security forces on Monday, according to an ISAF Joint Command statement. The cause of the crash is under investigation. There was no enemy activity in the area at the time of the incident, the statement said.

#2: In neighbouring Helmand province, a landmine detonated late on Monday under a tractor, killing four civilians, the Interior Ministry said.

#3: A mortar round also hit a house on Monday in Helmand, killing two civilians, it said.

#4: At least three people were killed and 18 others including two policemen injured in a suicide blast that occurred within the limits of Saddar police station in Bannu, Geo News reported. Police said the suicide bomber on a motorcycle targeted a police van.

#5: A policeman was killed while defusing a bomb without taking precautionary steps in Matni area here on Tuesday. According to police sources, police team reached at Adizai area of Matni after they received information pertaining to presence of a bomb in the area.

#6: A roadside bomb attack on Monday in the northwest restive tribal region killed three soldiers and wounded two others, officials said. A captain was killed along with two other soldiers when their vehicle hit an improvised bomb in Masuzai area of Kurram tribal district, a security official told AFP.

#7: According to local authorities in northern Parwan province of Afghanistan, at least two missiles were fired on US-run Bagram air base in Bagram district on Monday night. Bagram district security chief Zmarai Nasiri said two missiles landed inside the Bagram airfield last night. Mr. Nasiri further added no casualties or damage to the base have reported so far.

#8: In a separate incident at least five Taliban militants were killed and two others were injured following clashes with the Afghan security forces in northern Parwan province. A spokesman for the Afghan police forces in the north Ahmad Jawad said the incident took place after a number of Taliban militants attacked a security check post.


DoD: Tech. Sgt. Larry D. Bunn

War News for Monday, March 11, 2013

Afghan Leader Says U.S. Abets Taliban’s Goal

NATO to transfer security of Afghan province to local forces: spokesman


Reported security incidents
#1:  Several NATO and Afghan service members were killed Monday when an assailant wearing an Afghan service uniform opened fire on the group, NATO said. The attack happened late Monday morning in eastern Afghanistan, said Maj. Adam Wojack, a spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force.

Several US and Afghan soldiers have been shot dead by a gunman wearing Afghan uniform, the international military force Isaf says. Several others were wounded in the attack at a remote military base in eastern Afghanistan. Afghan officials told the BBC the gunman was either a member of the local police or an insurgent posing as one.

#2: Earlier on Monday, police in the Afghan capital Kabul said two civilian lorry drivers were killed and one wounded when they were fired on by an Isaf convoy. Isaf said soldiers opened fire to protect themselves when the two drivers failed to comply with a warning from the convoy.

#3: A commander of the Afghan Local Police was killed and 11 more, including six civilians, were injured when the Taliban attacked a security checkpost in Jurm district of Badakhshan province on Sunday. A gunfight erupted between the Taliban and Afghan Local Police after the attack, the district governor Abdul Jabbar told the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP). He said a police commander, Qurban, was killed while 11 more, including six civilians and five cops, were injured in the gunfight.
He said the Taliban also suffered casualties but he did not have accurate information.

#4: Meanwhile, three Afghan Local Police personnel were injured when the Taliban allegedly attacked their vehicle in Panjwai district of Kandahar province on Sunday. The Taliban attacked a vehicle of the Afghan Local Police in Sperwan area of Panjwai, the district governor Fazl Muhammad Ashaqzai told the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP).

#5: A civilian was killed and two more sustained injuries in a roadside bombing in Farah province yesterday, an official said Sunday. A vehicle carrying civilians struck an improvised explosive device in sixth security zone of Farah city yesterday, the Farah deputy governor Muhammad Younis Rasuli told the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP). The victims had no government job, he said, adding they were relatives of a policeman.

#6: 2 police killed in attack on Iranian Border outpost: Two border police have been killed and another injured in an apparent Taliban attack in western Farah province, local officials said. The attack took place in Farah’s Pasht Koh district of the province when a group of insurgents raided a border police outpost, according to the commander of border police in western Afghanistan Shir Ahmad Maladani.

#7: Two police corporals were injured when a roadside bomb they tried to defuse exploded overnight in Jalalabad, the capital of Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province, an official said on Monday. The blast in front of Jalalabad Palace took place around 10pm Sunday night near a police check point, police spokesman Hazrat Hussain Mashriqwal told an Afghan news agency.

#8: A Pakistan Army Captain and two soldiers were killed whereas two others were injured in an improvised explosive device (IED) attack in Upper Orakzai tribal region, officials confirmed. The attack took place late last night when the security forces convoy was targeted in Arkhanjo Mamozai village in Upper Orakzai tribal region,” the Frontier Corps media spokesperson Major Fazl told a private TV channel.

News of the Day for Sunday, March 10, 2013

Prominent Afghan actor Nazar Mohammad Majnonyar Helmandi is killed by a NATO airstrike as he is being held by militants. According to his brother, Helmandi had gone to a town near Lashkargah to visit his ailing sister when he was seized on suspicion of spying for the government, and he was being interrogated when the attack occurred. (His films have concerned the conflict against the drug trade and insurgency.) Three insurgents were also killed in the attack.

President Karzai says that a university student was seized and interrogated by an armed group working for the CIA. Karzai says he intervened with the CIA to obtain the young man's release, and that he has banned "foreign forces" from universities. Anonymous sources confirmed to AP that the CIA has trained "an Afghan counterterrorist force." The Reuters report further suggests that abuse and arrest of university students by this shadowy force is commonplace. The Council of Ministers issued a statement saying, "We notify the international coalition force's leadership to avoid such acts which are against Afghanistan's national sovereignty."

Karzai further accuses the U.S. and Taliban of collusion. He says they are holding negotiations in Qatar without Afghan involvement; and furthermore that the motive for ongoing Taliban attacks is to provide a pretext for U.S. forces to remain in the country. Karzai said in a speech that "The blasts indeed show support for the Americans to stay in Afghanistan after 2014. Yesterday's bombings in Khost and Kabul were not aimed at showing their strength to the USA but to serve the USA." (Whoa! One is inclined to think that when the history of this conflict is written, it won't resemble the official story being channeled to us by the corporate media today. -- C)

U.S. Central Command removes reports of drone strikes from its monthly air power summaries. "

Last October, the Air Force began releasing the monthly totals of strikes in Afghanistan in an effort to give the public more information on its overseas operations. But the move appears to have been reversed. The February numbers released March 7th just contain empty boxes for the drone strike data, and all of the previous data has also been deleted from older press releases on the site," according to Khaama.

U.S. drone attack kills 2 people in North Waziristan.

Fighting is reported between NATO forces and Taliban in Nangarhar.

War News for Saturday, March 09, 2013

The DoD is reporting the death of an USFOR-A soldier. Spc. Cody D. Suggs died from a non-combat related incident at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan on Friday, March 7th. Here’s NATO’s release.

Reported security incidents
#1: A civilian contractor and two Afghan soldiers were killed on a U.S. base yesterday afternoon when three men wearing Afghan National Army uniforms stormed the gate and began firing, military officials said, in what appeared to be the second insider attack on Western troops this year. The shooting, at Forward Operating Base Tagab in the northern province of Kapisa, also wounded four coalition troops before the attackers were killed, officials said.Officials were unsure about whether the attackers were Afghan soldiers or impostors. The attack began about 1:30 p.m., when the three uniformed men slammed an Afghan army vehicle into the main gate of the coalition base, officials said. A firefight then broke out, resulting in the deaths of the attackers, two Afghan soldiers and the civilian contractor.

#2: A suicide bomber on a bicycle killed nine people outside the defence ministry in central Kabul on Saturday during a visit to the Afghan capital by new US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel. The blast occurred near the main entrance gate of the heavily-guarded ministry, and Taliban militants immediately claimed the attack was timed to send a message to Hagel, who arrived in Kabul late on Friday. Police said in a statement that nine civilians had died and 13 others were injured including two military personnel, without giving further details.
#3: In another suicide attack on Saturday, eight children and a policeman were killed in the eastern city of Khost in a strike that targeted a joint Afghan and international troop patrol.

#4: An explosion inside the Jamia Masjid near Meena Bazaar has left 4 dead including the Imaam of the mosque while 28 others were injured, Geo News reported. The Explosion took place inside the Jamia Masjid Bilal located in Mohala Baqir Shah near the Meena Bazaar in Peshawar.


DoD: Spc. Cody D. Suggs

War News for Friday, March 08, 2013

Reported security incidents
#1: Pakistani security forces’ operation in parts of Upper Orakzai Agency is continued as eight more militants were killed in northwestern tribal belt. The sources said that the forces conducted operation in Aotmela and Mandermela area of agency and destroyed six hideouts of the militants. “Eight militants were killed in the operation while dozens other received injures,” they added.

At least 11 militants were killed in ongoing military operations in different area of Upper Orakzai Agency and Khyber Agency here on Friday. According to security sources, security forces backed by jet helicopters bombarded at hideouts of militants in Tirah Valley, killing three militants while several hideouts were destroyed in the shelling. In another operation, ,military jet fighter fired shells at positions of militants in Oatmila and Nandarmila areas of Upper Orakzai, killing eight militants and destroying three hideouts.

#2: According to reports several armed militants attacked a US military base in eastern Nangarhar province of Afghanistan on Friday. The incident took place in Jalalabad city and unconfirmed reports suggest that the armed men are Afghan national army and police officrs. The assailant armed men are also equipped with Humvee armoured vehicles and modern military equipments and at least one US soldier has reportedly been killed following the clashes.