War News for Sunday, January 18, 2009

Here's one of my favorite maps of the neighborhoods in Baghdad. Click on it to enlarge it.

The British MoD is reporting the death of a British ISAF soldier from enemy fire close to the District Centre of Sangin, Helmand Province on Saturday, January 17th.

Xinhua is reporting the death of an American ISAF soldier from a helicopter crash in Kunar province, Afghanistan on Saturday, January 17th. No other details are available

MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Multi-National Division - Baghdad soldier in a roadside bombing in an eastern neighborhood of Baghdad on Sunday, January 18th.


Iraq Occupation Bush`s `Mother Of All Mistakes

Air Force turns to acupuncture treatment:

Dutch officials hid critical Iraq report:

Tensions Rise on Korean Peninsula:


Reported Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: The deputy head of the U.S.-backed neighbourhood patrols programme was wounded when a bomb exploded near his house on Saturday in the al-Furat district of southwestern Baghdad, police said. Five of his neighbours were wounded in the blast.

#2: A roadside bomb wounded three policemen on Saturday when it targeted their patrol near central Baghdad's Al-Shaab stadium, police said.

#3: A mortar round wounded two Iraqi soldiers on Saturday in the Jamiaa district of western Baghdad, police said.

#4: A roadside bomb explosion struck a U.S. patrol on Sunday morning in the al-Jadida district, or New Baghdad, in the southeast of the capital, wounding three bystanders, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. The source could not tell whether the patrol sustained any casualty as the U.S. troops sealed off the area, preventing the Iraqi police from approaching the scene.

#5: A car bomb went off in southeastern Baghdad on Sunday, leaving an unidentified number of casualties ambulances rushed to hospitals for treatment, eyewitnesses said. “A car bomb blew up near al-Amin souk (market), southeastern Baghdad, leaving a number of victims,” an eyewitness in the scene of the blast told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “Shooting from unidentified directions followed the explosion,” he added.

#6: A roadside bomb wounded three policemen in the Mashtal district of east Baghdad, police said.

#7: A roadside bomb targeting a lorry carrying pre-cast blast walls wounded two civilians in the Yarmouk district of west Baghdad, police said.

#8: A roadside bomb near a restaurant wounded eight civilians in Palestine Street in northeastern Baghdad.


Kut:
#1: Three Katyusha rockets on Sunday targeted a Multi-National Force (MNF) base in Wassit province, but no casualties were reported, according to a local police source. “This evening, the MNF-run Delta Base (15 km west of Kut city) was hit by three Katyusha missiles,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. The source did not reveal whether the attack has caused damage or casualties.


Mosul:
#1: Gunmen in a car killed two guards protecting a communication tower on Saturday in northeastern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#2: Gunmen in a car shot dead an off-duty policeman on Saturday in northern Mosul, police said.

#3: A roadside bomb targeting a police patrol wounded a policeman and a civilian in southern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#4: Meanwhile, Iraqi army forces defused two explosive charges in al-Masaref neighborhood, northern Mosul, without causing any damage,” the source added.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Pakistani security forces, backed by artillery and tanks, have killed 14 Taliban insurgents in heavy fighting in the Mohmand region on the Afghan border, a government official said on Sunday. The latest fighting in the northwest broke out Saturday evening when militants attacked troops conducting searches. "They launched the attack from a hideout. Our troops responded quickly and destroyed it and killed 14 miscreants," Miraj Khan, a government official in the region, told Reuters. Two paramilitary soldiers were killed in the clash that went on for several hours, he said.

#2: A bridge located in Kandahar-Herat highway, also connecting Baqwa and Delaram districts destroyed completely by strong explosion. Mohammad Yunoos Rasoli, deputy governor of above mentioned province, told media that 4 passengers injured in this incident. According to him, anti-government insurgents wanted to explode this bridge by passing foreign forces on the bridge.

War News for Saturday, January 17, 2009

MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Multi-National Division - Baghdad soldier in a roadside bombing in an undisclosed neighborhood of Baghdad on Friday, January 16th.

The Houston Chronicle is reporting the death of a U.S. soldier from a suicide car bomb attack in Kabul, Afghanistan on Saturday, January 17th. Six additional soldiers were wounded in the attack. Four Afghanis were also killed and nineteen others wounded. A spokesman for the German Foreign Ministry in Berlin said "some personnel" were wounded in the blast, but he did not give numbers.


Jan. 14 airpower summary:

Jan. 15 airpower summary:

5 Illinois guardsmen wounded by Kabul suicide bomb:

Kyrgyzstan to close US airbase "in a matter of days"

Drama in Guantanamo: Will Obama halt war court sessions?

MOD confirms 'Friendly Fire' investigation:



Baghdad:
#1: An explosive-charge stuck to the car of the head of municipal office of Mansour district detonated in Baghdad's western neighborhood of Yarmouk, killing the driver and wounding a bystander, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. The attack took place in the morning when the driver was heading to the residence of the official to take him for work, the source said.

#2: In a separate incident, three civilians were wounded when a roadside bomb went off near a primary school in the al-Furat neighborhood in southwestern Baghdad, the source added.

Two civilians on Saturday were wounded when an explosive charge went off in western Baghdad, according to a police source. “Today, an improvised explosive device (IED) stuck to a civilian vehicle detonated in al-Yarmuk neighborhood, western Baghdad, wounding two civilians who were taken to the nearby al-Yarmuk Hospital for treatment,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Kirkuk:
#1: An improvised explosive device (IED) on Saturday went off near a truck in the southwest of Kirkuk city, wounding its driver, according to a local police source. “The explosion, which occurred near al-Humeira gas station on Kirkuk-Tikrit road (30 km southwest of Kirkuk), caused the vehicle to overturn and wounded its driver, who was taken to the hospital,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: At least two people were killed Saturday morning after a suicide bomb exploded near the German embassy in Kabul, a Defense Ministry spokesman said. One of the dead was a child, said Gen. Mohammed Zaher Azimi. He said another 23 people were wounded, four of them seriously.
Azimi's figure contradicts a report from the Interior Ministry soon after the blast that seven people were killed. Five U.S. forces were wounded in the blast, three of them seriously, said Lieutenant Colonel Chris Kubik, a spokesman for the U.S. military. Several embassy staff were also wounded and the explosion caused damage to the embassy compound, the German Foreign Ministry said. The blast occurred in the Afghan capital around 9:30 a.m. (midnight ET) in an area near a military base as well as the German embassy, an Interior Ministry official said. Afghan security officials had been in the area stopping and checking every car before the bomb went off, CNN's Atia Abawi reported. A fuel tanker was burned in the explosion, the force of which could be felt blocks away.

#2: In Saturday's second attack, a suicide bomber in a minivan charged a convoy of NATO troops and Afghan police in eastern Nangarhar province. The explosion in Chaparhar district killed one civilian and wounded three others, said Ghafor Khan, a spokesman for the provincial police chief. He said three police were also wounded. Mujahid said the bombing was aimed at the foreign military forces in the convoy. A spokesman for NATO forces, Sgt. Brian Jones, confirmed the bomb attack on the convoy. He said no NATO troops were killed or wounded.


Casualty Reports:

Marine Lance Cpl. Marc Olson, 20, of Coal City, after he was severely in-jured Nov. 8 in a suicide bomber attack in Iraq. The young Marine was wounded when two suicide bombers assaulted a police headquarters in Ramadi, Al Anbar Province, killing eight people and injuring seven others. He was flown to a hospital in Germany, and from there to the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.All his facial bones had been broken, and he suffered major head, neck, and eye injuries. He underwent surgery at Bethesda before coming home for the Christmas holidays, then went back for additional medical care.

War News for Friday, January 16, 2009

NY Times: Military Planners, in Nod to Obama, Are Preparing for a Faster Iraq Withdrawal: Military commanders are drawing up plans for a faster withdrawal of American troops from Iraq in anticipation that President-elect Barack Obama will reject current proposals as too slow, Pentagon and military officials said Wednesday.

Iraqi clerics calls for donations for Palestinians: Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr is calling on Iraqis to donate food, money and medicine for Palestinians suffering under Israel's Gaza offensive against Hamas militants.

Military: 696 PKK members killed, 237 captured in 2008:

Bulgarian president criticizes lack of vision for Iraq, Afghanistan:

Iraq plans to establish new pipeline to pump natural gas to Syria:

Russia concerned about Georgian border activities - Lavrov: --with 2 videos

Iraq Invites IOC's to Oil Deal Workshops:

Taliban adapting by using bigger and better bombs:

Rights group criticizes Pentagon report on airstrikes in Afghanistan:

UN to Obama: Don't change Afghan strategy:

Resistance to U.S. Plan for Afghanistan:


Reported Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: Late Thursday, two rockets or mortars struck the Green Zone, injuring one person, the U.S. military said. Iraqi police said the projectiles were fired from a Shiite area of east Baghdad into the enclave, which includes Iraqi government offices and the U.S. Embassy.

#2: Thursday A roadside bomb targeted an American military convoy in central Baghdad near the ministry of industry. The bomb was seen by the guards whoc closed the road but it exploded as the convoy passed by killing one guard of the ministry, Ahmed Taieb Murad, according to a press release by the ministry.

#3: The media advisor of the American troops on Friday said a U.S. soldier was wounded in an explosion in southeastern Baghdad. “An improvised explosive device went off after 10:00 am on Friday (Jan. 16) in Baghdad al-Jadieda region in southeastern Baghdad, targeting a U.S. vehicle patrol, injuring a soldier,” al-Muqdad Jibriel told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#4: A roadside bomb targeted a U.S. military convoy near al Obaidi Mosque in al Obaidi neighbourhood eastern Baghdad at 9 a.m. Friday damaging one Hummer vehicle.


Diyala Prv:
#1: A displaced man of al-Sawaaed tribe was killed by a suspected al-Qaeda armed group on Thursday (Jan. 15) at his house in al-Mualamien neighborhoods in west of Baaquba,” the source explained.

#2: A curfew and a vehicle ban imposed on three neighborhoods in the city of Baaquba as Iraqi forces are waging a security raid in it, a security source said on Friday. “The Diala police on Friday (Jan. 16) imposed a curfew on al-Mafraq, al-Mualamien and al-Katoun neighborhoods in Baaquba as security forces are waged a military operations in them,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Mussayab:
#1: Iraqi police found the body of a policeman in Mussayab, 60 km (40 miles) south of Baghdad, on Thursday, police said.


Jbela:
#1: Gunmen killed a candidate in Iraq's upcoming provincial elections on Friday, police said, ahead of polls Iraqi security officials and the U.S. military say could be bloody. Haythem al-Hasnowi, a candidate from a group headed by Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Dawa Party, was on his way to campaign in the town of Jbela, 65 km (40 miles) south of Baghdad, when gunmen opened fire on his convoy, police said.


Ishaqi:
#1: A roadside bomb killed three civilians and wounded another five when it struck their vehicle in Ishaqi, 100 km (60 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.


Kirkuk:
#1: A Katyusha rocket wounded a civilian when it landed near the local government headquarters of Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#2: Iraqi police found the bodies of three men bearing signs of torture and gunshot wounds in northwestern Kirkuk on Thursday, police said.


Mosul:
#1: Iraqi police found the body of a Christian man with gunshot wounds to the head in northern Mosul, 390 km (290 miles) north of Baghdad, on Thursday, police said.

The lifeless body of an Armenian was found yesterday by the army in Mosul. The abandoned body uncovered in a street in the east of the city was that of 36-year-old Chourik Bagrad. Sources in Mosul confirmed that it was a an execution style killing: multiple gunshot wounds to the head. His body was later discarded in al-Bakr district, where it was found by police and brought to the morgue for an autopsy.

#2: A roadside bomb wounded an Iraqi soldier on Thursday, when it struck an army patrol in northern Mosul, police said.

An Iraqi army soldier was injured on Friday in a bomb explosion that targeted an army convoy in western Mosul, a security source said. “An improvised explosive device went off on Friday (Jan. 16) targeting a convoy of the 12nd brigade of the Iraqi army in al-Shifaa neighborhood in western Mosul, near the fifth bridge, injuring a soldier,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The explosion destroyed a military vehicle,” he added.

#3: A roadside bomb targeted an Iraqi army patrol in al Zinjili neighbourhood, downtown Mosul at 8 a.m. Friday injuring three soldiers and damaging one of the military vehicles.

#4: Unidentified gunmen opened fire at a civilian man inside his house, killing a woman and wounding two persons others, in eastern Mosul on Friday, a police source in Ninewa said. “The gunmen attacked a house in al-Khadraa neighborhood, eastern Mosul, killing a woman and wounding two others and escaping to an unknown place,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: The U.S. military says one of its Black Hawk helicopters has gone down near Afghanistan's capital. No deaths were reported. All seven people aboard survived and the military says in a statement that they are "safe and secure."

The helicopter was on its way to perform a medical evacuation when it went down Friday morning. The military says the incident is under investigation.

#2: Suspected militants lobbed a grenade at a vehicle of the armed forces in Pakistan's troubled South Waziristan tribal region Thursday killing two soldiers and injuring five others, media reports said. The security personnel on a military convoy were on a routine patrol in Machan Baba, some 9 miles from Wana, the main town in the semi-autonomous tribal area, at the time of the attack.

#3: Some 800 North Atlantic Treaty Organization troops under Dutch command are battling for control of a key valley in southern Afghanistan used as a base by Taliban insurgents, the Dutch defense ministry said Friday. Ministry spokeswoman Marloes Visser said the Baluchi valley in Oruzgan province had long been a hiding place for the Taliban where they planned attacks. After taking control of territory to the north and south, the troops of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force had now advanced into the heart of the valley for the first time, she said. The plan was to set up a permanent Afghan army base and build a road through the valley between the towns of Takin Kowt and Chora, Visser added. The ministry said in a communiqué that 400 Dutch troops were operating with Australian and Afghan forces commanded by a Dutch colonel. "We met some resistance but it has calmed down in the past few days," Visser added. "We want to stop the Taliban fighters from organizing."
She said the operation had begun on Jan. 10 but declined to say how long it would last.


Casualty Reports:

Jonathan Pruden, a soldier who lost a leg in Baghdad when his Hum V was blown up in 2003.

Marine Tai Cleveland, who was paralyzed from the waist down while training in Kuwait.

War News for Thursday, January 15, 2009

The British MoD is reporting the deaths of two British ISAF service members from an explosion north east of Gereshk, central Helmand province on Wednesday, January 14th.


Jan. 13 airpower summary:

U.N. compound ablaze in Gaza fighting: Fighting between Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen in Gaza City set part of a U.N. relief agency's central storehouse for humanitarian aid ablaze, its director said Thursday. --He said staffers identified the source of the fires as white phosphorous shells, whose use is restricted under international law.

Rights group: 40 medics in burning Gaza hospital: Some 40 medical personnel were 'trapped' inside a hospital in the Gaza Strip, after it was apparently hit by shells and set ablaze on Thursday, an Israeli medical group said.

Explosion hits media offices in Gaza: An explosion blasted a tower block in the city of Gaza that houses the offices of Reuters and other media organisations on Thursday, forcing an evacuation and disrupting coverage of increasingly fierce fighting.

White House Finds 14 Million Missing E-Mails, DOJ Lawyer Says:

Oil tankers are going nowhere — slowly: --off topic

WFP says Iraq operation near fully funded, thanks to huge iraqi government donation:

The last, tortured days of King George:

Bush in wonderland:

Rounding up the toys at the George W. Bush Memorial Sandbox:

UK foreign minister urges rethink of "war on terror":

Three international aid workers kidnapped in S Philippines:


Reported Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: Iraq's minister of higher education escaped injury Thursday when a roadside bomb exploded near his convoy in central Baghdad, police said. The minister, Abed Theyab, was traveling to work Thursday morning when the blast occurred in the Karradah district of eastern Baghdad, the police said. No one in the convoy was hurt but three civilian bystanders were wounded, they added.

#2: A government security guard was killed and four people were wounded in another blast. In the other attack, the security guard died when a bomb exploded on Nidal Street near Tahrir Square in central Baghdad, police reported. The target was believed to have been a convoy of employees of the Housing Ministry.


Mosul:
#1: Gunmen in a speeding car killed a man on Wednesday near his house in the city of Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#2: Police found one dead body in Wadi Egab cemetery on Wednesday.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A top Afghan army general was killed Thursday in a helicopter crash in western Afghanistan, the Defense Ministry said. Gen. Fazaludin Sayar was one of the Afghan army's four regional commanders, in charge of the entire west of the country. The MI-17 craft hit bad weather in the morning and went down in the Adraskan district of Herat province, the ministry said in a statement. All 12 others aboard were also killed, the statement said. The helicopter had been headed to neighboring Farah province.

#2: A militant killed and two others injured during security forces operation continued against militant in different parts of Swat.According to sources, a militant was killed and two others injured during security forces action in Charbagh area while Kanju-Kabal Road has been closed for traffic. Meanwhile, exchange of fire between security forces and militants underway in Kot area of tehsil Charbagh whereas security forces pounding militants positions in tehsil Kabal and Matta and Manglore area of Mingora.

#3: Six insurgents died while attempting to plant a mine on a road in Trenkut in Urozgan, Afghanistan, the Interior Ministry said in an official statement.

#4: An Afghan contractor, who worked on road construction projects for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), was found murdered three days after being kidnapped by insurgents in Kapisa Province, some 80 km north from capital city of Kabul, said an ISAF statement released here on Thursday. "The local-national contractor was kidnapped on Jan. 6. During his captivity, he was shot three times and killed. Afghan police found the contractor's body hanging from a tree near Feroza district on Jan. 9," the statement said. "The contractor was part of a road construction project in the Afghanya valley of Kapisa."

#5: A truck supplying logistics to foreign troops in Kandahar, Afghanistan blew up when explosives went off in the vehicle in Maidan Wardak. Spokesman for the Governor of Maidan Wardak Adam Khan Serat told the media that the explosion occurred in early hours of the day. The blast partially damaged the vehicle. No one was hurt.

#6: Two paramilitary soldiers were killed and four wounded in a roadside bomb blast Thursday in a Pakistani tribal area known as a stronghold of Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants, an official said. The incident took place in South Waziristan, an area on the border with Afghanistan. "An explosion caused by a remote-controlled bomb planted along the roadside in the Machan Babar area killed two soldiers as a Frontier Corps vehicle passed by," a security official told AFP.


Casualty Reports:

Sgt. Jeremy Cicolino, 23, reports his injuries are healing and he says he's up and walking at Ramstein Air Force Base where he was transported. His special weapons unit was hit by an IED last week outside a small village in Afghanistan where they were screening for the explosives. "He's still got some hearing problems. He was that close to the blast," she said. "That's something that should heal itself." "The tingling in his arms and other places should go away," she said army officials and nurses told her. He told his mother several of his fellow soldiers were injured and some were killed.

War News for Wednesday, January 14, 2009

The DoD is reporting a new death previously unreported by the military. Lance Cpl. Daniel R. Bennett died of an undisclosed non-hostile incident in Helmand province, Afghanistan, on Sunday January, 11th.


Jan. 12 airpower summary:

Detainee Was Tortured, a Bush Official Confirms:

127057 detainees released under amnesty law - source:


Pakistan Seeks Mass Deportation of Khyber Afghan Refugees:


Reported Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: A strong blast took place on Wednesday morning near al-Sirafiya bridge in northern Baghdad, eyewitnesses said. “An explosive charge went on Wednesday morning (Jan.14) in al-Kesra region near al-Sirafiya bridge in northern Baghdad,” an eyewitness told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. There was no immediate word on casualties, and Iraqi security forces sealed off the whole region.

#2: A roadside bomb wounded three civilians when it exploded near a police patrol in the eastern neighbourhood of Zaafaraniya, police said.

#3: “Another bomb was detonated near al-Mustansiriya university in eastern Baghdad, injuring four civilians,” he added.

A roadside bomb wounded four people in eastern Baghdad's Palestine Street, police said.

#4: The spokesman for the transport ministry on Wednesday said that an interior ministry’s force managed to defuse an improvised explosive device (IED) attached to the vehicle of the ministry’s undersecretary. “A force from the interior ministry defused a sticky IED attached to the vehicle of the transport ministry’s undersecretary Binkien Rikan, who discovered it while leaving his house in Baghdad,” Samir al-Shiwli told Aswat al-Iraq. “The bomb was defused without casualties,” he noted.


Amarra:
#1: An explosive charge went off targeting a U.S. convoy in north of Amara, without leaving casualties, an Iraqi army source said on Wednesday. “The bomb exploded late Tuesday (Jan. 13) targeting a U.S. convoy in al-Butayra street in north of Amara, without leaving casualties,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The U.S. forces sealed off the region, while helicopters were seen hovering over the area,” he added. For his part, the spokesman for the U.S. army in Iraq, Muqdad Jibraeel told Aswat al-Iraq news agency that the explosion left no casualties among U.S. forces.


Makhmour:
#1: Iraqi army forces on Wednesday found an unknown body in west of Makhmour district, an Iraqi army source said.


Kirkuk:
#1: Gunmen killed an off-duty policeman in eastern Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.


Mosul:
#1: Iraqi police say two people have been killed and two wounded in a suicide car bombing in the northern city of Mosul. A senior official at the provincial security headquarters says the attacker detonated his explosives Wednesday at an Iraqi military checkpoint in the Zanjili neighborhood.

#2: Meanwhile, a military source said that Iraqi army soldiers killed a gunman and injured another one on Tuesday night while attempting to launch Katyusha rockets in al-Sideeq neighborhood in north of Mosul.

Two militants accidentally triggered a roadside bomb while trying to plant it in northern Mosul, killing one of them and wounding the other, on Tuesday, police said.

#3: A parked car bomb killed a soldier and wounded another three people including a soldier when it exploded on army convoy in western Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A key route for NATO supply trucks through southwest Pakistan into Afghanistan reopened Wednesday five days after tribesmen blocked it over the killing of a man in a drugs raid, police said.

#2: Unidentified gunmen Wednesday shot dead three policemen in southwestern Pakistan's Quetta city, private TV channel Geo reported. Unknown attackers riding on a motor bike opened fire on a police mobile vehicle near Government Girls Polytechnic college in Quetta, capital city of Balochistan province. As a result, a senior police officer Hasan Ali and two other policemen were killed while three other policemen sustained injuries.


Casualty Reports:

Cpl. Melroy H. Cort, 24, legs had been amputated above the knees when he was wounded by a makeshift bomb in Ramadi during his third tour of duty in Iraq In the 2006 incident.

U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Marc Olson was wounded recently in Iraq. Olson sustained major head, neck and eye injuries when suicide bombers attacked his post Nov. 8. He returned home to Coal City last month from the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. He has returned to the hospital for additional treatment.

War News for Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Jan. 9 airpower summary:

Jan. 10 airpower summary:

Jan. 11 airpower summary:

Iran arrests four over 'CIA-backed plot'

Army suicides rise as time spent in combat increases: The Marine Corps reported 41 actual or suspected suicides in 2008, a 20% increase over 33 in 2007. In 2007, the Army counted 115 suicides, the most since tracking began in 1980. By October 2008, that record had been surpassed with 117 soldier suicides. Final numbers for 2008 have not been released. Suicides among Iraq and Afghanistan veterans doubled from 52 in 2004 to 110 in 2006, the latest statistics available, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

Washington Flip-Flops Over Replacement of Apaches:

Biden discusses troop withdrawals with Iraq leader:

20th anniversary of withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan to be marked in Armenia:

Kyrgyzstan plans to evict U.S. airbase - source:

Afghan force supplies face Pakistani disruption:

U.S. Construction in Afghanistan Sign of Long Commitment: The Army is building $1.1 billion worth of military bases and other facilities in Afghanistan and is planning to start an additional $1.3 billion in projects this year, according to Col. Thomas E. O'Donovan, commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Afghanistan District.

NY Times: Obama’s Plan to Close Prison at Guantánamo May Take Year: President-elect Barack Obama plans to issue an executive order on his first full day in office directing the closing of the Guantánamo Bay detention camp in Cuba, people briefed by Obama transition officials said Monday......

New Paths to Power Emerge in Iraq:


Reported Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: Monday Iraqi police found on dead body in Dora neighborhood in Baghdad.

#2: A police officer was injured on Tuesday in a bomb explosion in the southeast of Baghdad, a police source said. “An improvised explosive device went off targeting a police vehicle patrol in Mohamed al-Qassem street in the southeast of Baghdad, injuring a police officer,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#3: Three mortar rounds fell in Raghiba Khatun, a residential neighbourhood Adhamiyah, northern Baghdad at 7.30 p.m. Tuesday injuring seven civilians and causing severe damage to three houses.

#4: A roadside bomb targeted a National Police patrol in Doura, southern Baghdad at 8 p.m. injuring eight civilians.


Tikrit:
#1: Explosives experts on Tuesday defused an improvised explosive device (IED) in a Tikrit University lecture hall, according to a local media source. “While conducting a routine check on the university’s facilities, security guards found a locally-made explosive charge connected to a mobile phone inside a lecture hall,” a media source from the university told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Mosul:
#1: A roadside bomb targeted a police patrol in New Mosul, western Mosul City killing one policeman, injuring another.

#2: A roadside bomb killed a policeman when it struck his police patrol on Monday in the northern city of Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#3: Gunmen opened fire on and wounded an off-duty policeman in Mosul on Monday, police said.

#4: Gunmen opened fire upon a policeman in al Najafi Street, central Mosul severely wounding him.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: An Afghan army commander for southern Afghanistan claimed Tuesday that government forces backed by NATO troops killed 12 Taliban militants in a clash in the volatile region. Troops clashed with the rebels at Safaid Masjed in the Gerishk district of southern Helmand province Monday, General Mohaiyodin Ghori, the top Afghan army commander in the region, said. 'According to our intelligence report 12 Taliban militants were killed in the attack,' Ghori said, adding that there were no casualties of government troops or NATO forces.

#2: A Nato supply depot in north-west Pakistan has been attacked by suspected militants, the first such raid since a major army offensive against them. Several rockets were fired at the terminal on the outskirts of Peshawar, damaging a number of trucks. A senior police officer, Fida Mohammad, told Agence France-Presse news agency: "The militants fired six rockets on a Nato terminal during the night. One truck was hit and it caught fire, while three other vehicles suffered minor damage." He said there was a brief exchange of fire with police but the attackers fled.

#3: But ethnic Pashtun tribesmen, protesting against security force searches for militants, have been blocking the road to the border since Saturday. "Not a single truck has gone to the border in the past three days. We're in talks to settle things down," senior provincial government official Khaliq Nazar Kayani told Reuters. Kayani is based in the town of Qila Abdullah, about 70 km (45 miles) southwest of the Chaman border crossing, where the protesters have been blocking the road. Tribal elder Abdul Qahar Wadan said the blockade would go on until the government punished those responsible for what he described as unjust searches. "They have no right to enter our houses without proof. It's against our customs and honour," Wadan said. Hundreds of trucks have been stopped and are parked by the side of the road in Qila Abdullah, residents said.

#4: ISAF troops based in Herat province injured two civilians in a traffic accident in Herat city. According to eyewitnesses, a tank driven by ISAF troops , hit a motorbike in the Bakarabad area of Herat city and caused two civilian casualties.

#5: Taliban militants shot dead an Afghan national in Pakistan's lawless northwestern tribal belt after accusing him of spying for the United States, a local official said Tuesday. The bullet-riddled body of Bahadur Khan was found early Tuesday in a market in Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan, the official said, adding that Khan had been kidnapped from the same place the previous day. "A note found with the body said, 'He was spying for the U.S. and anyone spying on us will end up like this,'" the official said.


Casualty Reports:

British soldier Peter Bowker, of Uplands Avenue, Connah's Quay, nearly lost a leg in the explosion after being badly injured in a bomb attack in Afghanistan. He is on crutches and will be unable to walk for several months. His heel was also badly damaged.

Scott West lost both legs while serving in Iraq when his Humvee hit an improvised explosive device.

Staff Sgt. Gabriel Garcia is hospitalized in Germany after he was struck by shrapnel in a suicide bombing in Afghanistan. His wife, Christina, says surgeons had to amputate her husband's right arm after last Thursday's bombing.



I suspect that since Biden is in Iraq the western corporate media's will remain quite on most developments in Iraq under the guise of security. In other words we have another media blackout. --wisker.

War News for Monday, January 12, 2009

The British MoD is reporting the death of a Marine from an explosion in the Kajaki area of Helmand province, Afghanistan on Sunday, January 11th. Here's the ISAF release.

MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a U.S. soldier from a non-combat related injury somewhere near Samarra, Iraq on Sunday, January 11th.

MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Multi-National Force – West Marine from a non-combat related injury at the Air Asad Airbase, Iraq on Sunday, January 11th.


Iraq backs down from election code requirement:

Iraq victims sue UK security firm:

U.S. Vice President-elect Biden arrives in Iraq:

CSM: As US withdraws, will Al Qaeda in Iraq find new openings?

SKorean army officer accused of bribery in Iraq:

De-mining agency: Afghanistan to be mine-free within 5 years:

U.S. Marines find Iraq tactics don't work in Afghanistan:


Reported Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: The violence began when two vehicles parked about 50 yards (meters) apart exploded in quick succession just after 7 a.m. as a police patrol passed by a bakery in a mainly Shiite area. The road, which runs through a commercial district, is frequently used by police and army convoys in the eastern New Baghdad neighborhood, residents said. Police and hospital officials said four people, including a policeman who died at the hospital, were killed and nine others wounded. The U.S. military said the Iraqi police were hit when explosives planted on a truck detonated as they were responded to the initial car bomb. The U.S. military gave a lower casualty toll, saying one Iraqi policeman was killed and two civilians were wounded.

A bomb attached to a car, followed quickly by another blast, killed three people and wounded 10 in the New Baghdad district in the east of the capital, police said.

#2: In western Baghdad, a roadside bomb struck a military convoy with a truck carrying weapons in the mainly Sunni area of Yarmouk, killing three Iraqi soldiers and wounding four bystanders, police said.

A roadside bomb in the Yarmouk neighborhood struck an Iraqi army lorry carrying ammunition. Three soldiers were burned to death inside the truck and four civilians were wounded.

#3: Two other roadside bombs apparently aimed at Iraqi army and police patrols elsewhere in the capital killed two civilians and wounded seven other people, police officials said.

#4: Near Sha'ab stadium in eastern Baghdad a bomb struck a police patrol, wounding seven people, including three policemen.

#5: In Ghazaliya district in western Baghdad a roadside bomb struck a police patrol wounding three policemen and a civilian.

#6: A roadside bomb struck near a police patrol in the central Karrada district killing one civilian and wounding four policemen, and another roadside bomb in central Baghdad wounded four people.

#7: Around 8:15 a.m. a sticky bomb exploded in a civilian car in Sheikh Omar area killing one person and injuring another.


Thi Qar:
#1: An improvised explosive device (IED) on Monday went off on a road in Thi-Qar province, causing no casualties, according to a local police source. “This morning, an explosive charge detonated on Nassiriya-Jabayesh road (60 km east of Nassiriya city), causing a one meter diameter hole, but no casualties,” an official spokesperson for Thi-Qar police, Col. Sadeq al-Mashrafawi told Aswat al-Iraq.


Kirkuk:
#1: Eight persons on Monday were arrested during a search raid in Kirkuk city following an explosive device blast that left four soldiers killed or wounded, according to a military source.


Mosul:
#1: An improvised explosive device (IED) on Monday targeted a U.S. patrol vehicle in western Mosul city without causing casualties, according to a security source. “The explosion occurred in al-Maash market, western Mosul, but caused no casualties,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: A sticky bomb exploded in a civilian car in Mosul city. The bomb targeted and injured Faris Sinjari a leading member in political entity, Al Hadbaa, participating in the upcoming elections.

#3: “A cop was injured on Monday (Jan. 12) by gunmen in al-Najafi street in central Mosul,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#4: Two bombs went off targeting police and army forces; the first was at al-Baladiyat neighborhood in northern Mosul, and the other was near Garage Baghdad in southern Mosul, without leaving casualties,” the source added.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Police in northern Pakistan say they have found the bodies of two men killed by purported Taliban militants for allegedly spying for the United States. Tribal police official Abdul Qayyum Khan said that the men, brothers aged 25 and 30, were found shot to death early Monday with notes pinned to their bodies accusing them of passing on information in exchange for money. Khan said the two had been abducted one week ago as they attempted to flee with their families.

#2: NATO forces killed a suspected suicide bomber as he was approaching their convoy in a central province near Kabul city, officials said Monday. The international troops opened fire on a vehicle packed with explosives in Sayed Abad district of Wardak province Monday morning, said Adam Khan Serat, spokesman for the provincial governor. “The vehicle exploded and the bomber inside the vehicle was killed in the blast,” he said, adding the troops did not suffer casualties.

#3: Separately, six suspected Taliban fighters were killed and four others were wounded in a clash with Afghan forces backed by NATO troops in Spin Masjed village in Gerishk district of southern province of Helmand Sunday, an interior ministry statement said.

#4: Pakistani forces attacked militants in mountains near the Afghan border on Monday as fresh troops arrived after heavy fighting with Taliban insurgents, government officials said. More than 600 al Qaeda-linked militants attacked a paramilitary force camp and two checkposts in the Mohmand region, to the north of the city of Peshawar, on Saturday night killing six soldiers and wounding seven, the force said.Security forces pushed back the militants, who had attacked from the direction of the Afghan border, killing 40 of them in hours of fighting, the paramilitary force said. There was no independent verification of the toll.Pakistani forces fired artillery at militant hideouts in mountains above two villages on Monday, said a senior government official in Mohmand, Meraj Khan."Heavy firing is going on in the mountains but we don't have any details of casualties yet," Khan told Reuters.