War News for Saturday, July 27, 2013

Reported security incidents
#1: Gunmen attacked a coastguard checkpost in southwestern Pakistan on Saturday, killing seven officials and wounding seven others, officials said. The incident happened in the Suntsar area of Gwadar district, 1,420 kilometres (882 miles) southwest of Quetta, the capital of the oil and gas rich Baluchistan province that borders Iran and Afghanistan. "Around 24 gunmen armed with rockets and heavy weapons, attacked the checkpost and killed seven coastguard officials," provincial home secretary Akbar Hussain Durrani said. He said at least seven coastguard officials were also injured in the early morning attack.

#2: THE death toll from twin suicide attacks at a busy marketplace in northwest Pakistan has risen to 51, officials say. The Friday attacks at the bazaar in Parachinar, the main town of Kurram tribal district on Pakistan-Afghanistan border were the deadliest to hit the country during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. "The new deaths occurred overnight", Mehsud said, adding that more than 150 people were injured in the attacks.

#3: The governor of Afghanistan's northern Samangan Province has survived a roadside bomb attack claimed by Taliban militants. The attack occurred as Khairullah Anosh was traveling to work on July 27 in a pickup truck. He and two bodyguards sustained minor injuries.

 

#4: At least four paramilitary soldiers were injured when a bomb went off in Hangu on Saturday, Geo News reported. According to police, a bomb planted in a motorcycle went off when a vehicle of the Frontier Corps (FC) passed. District Police Officer (DPO) Sajjad Khan said that four FC officials were injured in the attack, which took place in Doaba area of Hangu.

#5: At least 10 security officials were killed and five others injured when unknown insurgents attacked a security check post in Gawadar district of the restive Balochistan province. The check post of coastguards was located in Sansar area, a mountainous region some 100 kilometers away from Gwadar, the port city in Balochistan.

#6: Forty-five Taliban militants were killed as NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) aircrafts raided their hideout in the southern Helmand province on Friday night, a statement of Helmand' s provincial administration said Saturday. "The armed militants were on five vehicles when came under ISAF aircrafts attack leaving 45 rebels dead and three others injured," the short statement contended without giving more details. Meantime, spokesman of Helmand local government Omar Zawak in talks with Xinhua confirmed the incident, saying the attack took place near Bahramcha town late Friday night. However, he did not furnish more details. Neither Taliban outfit nor ISAF has issued any statement.
#7: A bomb blast targeted the police convoy in northern Afghan province of Baghlan on Saturday, police said.

War News for Friday, July 26, 2013

Soldier from Mill City seriously wounded in Afghanistan

Taliban Claim Deadly Attack on Pakistani Spy Agency

Bombs, shootings kill 42 in Iraq

Afghan army launch major military offensive in Eastern Afghanistan


Reported security incidents
#1: The Taliban poisoned and captured at least 12 policemen as they broke their fast during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan in an attack in southern Afghanistan, officials said Thursday. The attack took place in Zabul province, where the insurgent militia is believed to have a strong presence despite numerous operations by Afghanistan's Western-backed government security forces. "Tragically, 12 policemen were poisoned and then taken away in a mini-van after breaking their fast yesterday evening in Shahjoy district of Zabul," Shah Nazanin, the district police chief, told AFP.

#2: At least two persons were killed and six others were injured when an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) hit a pick-up van on Kurram tribal region's Sherko road on Friday. Political administration officials told Dawn.com that a passenger van was travelling from Kurrams tribal region's north-western Alizai area to Parachinar area when it was targeted by a planted road-side bomb.

#3: 22 mutilated dead bodies have been found from the area of Khyber Agency of tribal area. An official Political staff member of Khyber agency while taking to BBC has confirmed the recovery charred dead bodies, and said that these bodies were found yesterday night from the area of Akka Khel, few kilometers away from Bara Bazar. He said that it is still not confirmed that who are these persons and who has killed them, however it seems that they have been killed during operation.

#4: Gunmen killed four people, including a Levies constable, in the Khuzdar district of Balochistan on Thursday. Muhammad Ali, a Levies official, told a private TV channel that militants, who had already taken up positions on a roadside, opened fire on a vehicle near Gazgi Chowki area of Khuzdar. He said the targeted vehicle was carrying Levies officials, who were bringing injured from an earlier firing incident to the District Headquarters Hospital Khuzdar.

US/DoD: 1st Lt. Jonam Russell

US/DoD: Sgt. Stefan M. Smith

US/DoD: Spc. Rob L. Nichols

War News for Thursday, July 25, 2013

Gunmen shoot dead 13 police, soldiers in Iraq strikes

Militants ‘executed’ drivers in Iraq

Watchdog critical of State Department contracting in Afghanistan

National Guard (in Federal Status) and Reserve Activated as of July 23, 2013


Reported security incidents
#1: The first attack took place in Kunduz city, the capital of Kunduz province 250 km north of Afghan capital Kabul, killing three people and injuring four others, police said. "A vehicle of National Directorate for Security (NDS) was running in Bandar-e-Kabul area of the city when a sticky bomb attached to the vehicle by militants went off at 07:00 a.m. local time, killing one NDS personnel aboard and two civilian passersby on the spot," a police official told Xinhua but declined to be named. Four more people sustained injuries and several shops and houses were damaged nearby in the blast, he added.

#2: Hour later in a similar bombing in Aqcha district of Jauzjan province 390 km north of Kabul, two people lost their lives and 10 others got wounded. "A bomb planted by the armed militants in Aqcha district and detonated at around 08:00 a.m. local time left two people including a police dead and injured 10 others including four policemen," a local official told Xinhua but declined to be identified. The police chief of Aqcha district Jawad Jahid said the enemies of peace, a reference to Taliban militants, planed explosive device on a rickshaw and detonated it next to a police vehicle inflicting casualties.

#3: Two persons were killed when unknown gunmen opened fire on a vehicle carrying the Frontier Reserve Police (FRP) official in Gulbahar area of Peshawar Thursday morning, Geo News reported. "The deputy commander of Frontier Reserve Police (FRP) Gul Wali Khan was going to his office from home when four people on two motorbikes lay in wait on both sides of the road," police official Imran Shahid said. "They opened fire on his vehicle. His bodyguard and his driver have been killed," Shahid told. A spokesman for the Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar said the commander was in critical condition.

#4: The attack came hours after suicide gunmen and car bombers targeted the headquarters of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in the southern town of Sukkur, sparking a shootout that left seven people dead, two officials and five attackers.

 
 

War News for Wednesday, July 24, 2013

The US/DoD is reporting the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. Spc. Anthony R. Maddox died at Landstuhl, Germany from a non-combat related incident he received Andar, Ghazni province, Afghanistan on Monday July 22nd. News reports that he was injured in a fueling accident on Saturday, July 20th.

CIA closing bases in Afghanistan as it shifts focus amid military drawdown

LaGrange soldier killed in Afghanistan

US drones to patrol Pakistan’s tribal areas even after Afghan withdrawal


Reported security incidents

War News for Tuesday, July 23, 2013

NATO is reporting the deaths of three ISAF soldiers from an IED blast in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, July 23rd. News reports that a suicide bomber riding a donkey killed the soldiers and their interpter in the Sayedabad district of Wardak province. Four ANA soldiers were also wounded in the attack.

Security along Pak-Afghan border tightened

Pentagon Lays Out Options for U.S. Military Effort in Syria


Reported security incidents
#1: A farmer was killed, when hit a roadside mine in eastern province of Kanahar, where the officials said on Tuesday had been planted by the insurgents.
 

#2: Two militants were killed and one was captured when Taliban launched an armed attack on checkpoints in southern Afghan province of Helmand early Tuesday morning, the police said. "Several militants stormed an Afghan National Police (ANP) checkpoints in Torgodar area of provincial capital Laghkar Gah at around 1:30 a.m. local time. As a result two militants were killed and one was detained," deputy coordinator for provincial police headquarters Ismail Hotak told Xinhua. He said one policeman was also slightly wounded in the firing in the city, 555 km south of national capital Kabul.

#3: On Monday night, seven Afghan soldiers and police were killed and 13 civilians were wounded when an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) attached to a motorcycle was detonated in neighbouring Uruzgan province.

War News for Monday, July 22, 2013

Unexploded Nato ordnance killing Afghan civilians

Suicide bomber attacks Iraq army convoy, killing 25

Gunmen attack two Iraq prisons

Pakistan Battles Polio, and Its People’s Mistrust


Reported security incidents
#1: A man was killed and 10 others injured when two blast rocked Chaman near Pak-Afghan border on Monday, local tv reported. Levies sources confirmed that several people were injured in the blast after which vehicular traffic to Afghanistan was suspended. They said a blast went off near Border Custom Office at the Bab-e-Dosti in Chaman. The second blast took place near Levies Line. A mosque was partially damage in the explosion.

#2: A spate of separate attacks has left at least five civilians and 16 Taliban insurgents dead in Afghanistan's southern Kandahar province, officials said Sunday. The militants died while fighting Afghan Special Forces and national police in Panjwai district, provincial spokesman Javed Faisal told dpa. #3: At least two Afghan Local Policemen were killed in a Taliban ambush in southern province of Paktika, where an official said Sunday the incident took place last evening. The incident took place in Matta Khan district of the province, where the government armed oppositions killed two local policemen on a patrol convoy ambush, said Daulat Zadran, the provincial police spokesman.

#4: Four Afghan army soldiers were killed and one was wounded Monday when their vehicle was hit by a Taliban roadside bombing in the country's southern province of Zabul, the provincial police chief said. "One Afghan National Army vehicle ran over an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) in Shahjoy district at around 10 a.m. local time. Four ANA personnel were martyred and one was wounded," Ghulam Sakhi Rogh Lewani told Xinhua.
#5: Earlier on Monday, two Taliban militants were killed when their IED went off prematurely in neighboring Helmand province, officials said.

#6: According to local authorities in eastern Khost province of Afghanistan, at least six people were killed after unknown gunmen attacked the residential house of Spera district early Sunday morning.

Head of the provincial media department Mohammad Mubarez Zadran confirming the report said at least six people including brother of Spera district chief and his five bodyguards were killed.

 

News of the Day for Sunday, July 21, 2013

A girls' high school is torched in Kunduz. The perpetrators also plant several bombs on roads leading to the building. Firefighters brought the blaze under control and the building was only partially damaged.

Brother of Spera district chief and five of his bodyguards are killed in a home invasion in Khost.

Two civilians are killed and four injured by a roadside bomb in Kandahar province.

Rod Nordland, for the NYT, does an in-depth assessment of the state of public education in Afghanistan. Since we're coming from a state of near non-existence, those claiming positive achievements from a decade of occupation by western powers can claim progress. But the situation is still abysmal by the standards of most of the world. This is certainly recommended reading for those who wish to understand the reality of Afghanistan today.

Reuters discusses the intrigue among Kabul power brokers as elections loom  for a successor to Hamid Karzai.

Reuters also discusses efforts by Afghan women's rights advocates to win over clergy to at least some elements of their cause, particularly asking them to condemn violence against women.

AFP reports that the Afghan government is requiring the U.S. to pay $1,000 in custom fees  for each shipping container leaving the country via the Pakistan border. As a result, the U.S. is flying out equipment, at much greater cost. (Now that's a scam I can respect! -- C)

And, AFP discusses the difficulty of delivering mail in Kabul where most streets are unnamed and houses unnumbered.

This ought to be a blockbuster! New Indian-Afghan film to be released soon, A Man's Desire for a Fifth Wife. "The scenario of the movie is based on a love story where a man goes on looking for a fifth wife, though he is allowed only four." Uh-huh.