More attacks on Norwegian soldiers: Norwegian soldiers have come under fire 165 times in the first six months of 2010. The majority of these have been roadside bombs and direct or indirect attacks.
Iraqi Leaders Fear for Future After Their Past Missteps
Reported security incidents
Baghdad:
#1: Also Wednesday, police said gunmen in western Baghdad killed an employee of the Ministry of Housing and Reconstruction as he was driving to work.
#2: “A roadside bomb went off today in the Zayiona neighborhood, eastern Baghdad, wounding two civilians,” a local security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
#3: “A roadside bomb went off today at the Beirut Square, eastern Baghdad, wounding four civilians,” the source added.
#4: Armed men opened fire on a car, wounding three people, in eastern Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.
#5: A generator exploded in eastern Baghdad, setting fire to stores and wounding 25 people, an Interior Ministry source said. A police source said the incident may have involved a bomb, and that six people were killed, but a local resident said it was an accident and three people were killed.
#6: Men in a car threw a hand grenade into the street, wounding one policeman and a civilian, in Baghdad's western district of Mansour, an Interior Ministry source said.
#7: roadside bomb wounded four people in Palestine street in northeastern Baghdad, police said.
#8: A roadside bomb wounded two people in the eastern Baghdad district of Zayouna, police said.
Diyala Prv:
#1: Three murdered farmers whose bodies bore leaflets warning against cooperation with US and Iraqi forces were among six people killed in violence in Iraq on Wednesday, security officials said. In the village of Rabiyah, northeast of Baghdad in central Diyala province, 10 masked gunmen carrying machine guns and silenced pistols and claiming to be members of Al-Qaeda raided the houses of three Shiite farmers, dragged them outside and shot them dead. "They brought them outside of their homes and then shot them," said police Major Mohammed al-Karkhi. "Then they left leaflets on their bodies which said, 'This is the future for all those who cooperate with the US military and Iraqi security forces.'"
Abu Ghraib:
#1: The manager of the Financial Supervisory Authority was killed on Tuesday in an armed attack in western Baghdad, a police source said.“Unknown gunmen attacked Hassan Abdullatief, the manager of the Financial Supervisory Authority of the trade ministry, while driving his car in al-Madayef street in al-Ameriya region, western Baghdad, killing him using guns with silencers,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “An explosive charge went off targeting a police vehicle patrol in Abu Gharieb region, western Baghdad, killing a civilian and injuring two others, including a policeman,” the same source said.
Tikrit:
#1: A bomb planted near a courthouse in Saddam Hussein's hometown killed two security guards on Wednesday, Iraqi police and hospital officials said. Security officials at the civil court in Tikrit, located some 80 miles (130 kilometres) north of Baghdad, discovered a pair of bombs near the main entrance to the building early Wednesday morning as people were arriving for work. Authorities evacuated the courthouse, but one of the bombs went off around 7:40 local time, killing the two guards and wounding three civilians, police and hospital officials said.
Kirkuk:
#1: Two policemen were killed by gunmen in southern Kirkuk on Tuesday, Domiz police chief said. “Unidentified gunmen opened fire on a police checkpoint in Domiz region in southern Kirkuk, killing two policemen,” Colonel Anwar Qader told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
Mosul:
#1: Unknown gunmen killed an employee working in Badoush jail, west of Mosul, near his house in al-Harmat region, western Mosul,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
#2: “A policeman was killed on Tuesday afternoon by armed men near his house in al-Salahiya region in Hamam al-Alil district, south of Mosul,” the source said.
#3: Police found the body of an unidentified man with head and chest bullet wounds in eastern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said
Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Islamist militants attacked police posts in Pakistan's northwest and killed two civilians active in an anti-Taliban militia, challenging a security establishment straining under a national flooding disaster, police said Wednesday. A group of militants first killed two members of a militia in the Adezai area of Peshawar as they headed to pray at a mosque late Tuesday, said Liaqat Ali Khan, Peshawar police chief. In the hours after, dozens of militants from the Khyber tribal region, which lies near Peshawar and along the Afghan border, attacked police posts in the Sarband area of Peshawar. The two sides exchanged fire for about an hour before the militants retreated to Khyber, Khan said. He said several militants were killed, but there were no police casualties.
#2: Taliban insurgents broke into the home of a provincial official in southern Afghanistan and killed him and his wife, the latest targeted attack on those with links to the government or international forces, authorities said Wednesday. Atta Jan Kajrwal, the Zabul province director of border and tribal affairs, was killed along with his wife in the attack Tuesday night in Shahjoy district, said Mohammad Jan Rasoolyar, a spokesman for the governor. Another person in the house was injured, he said.
#3: Also Tuesday, a joint coalition-Afghan force raided a compound used by the Taliban as a prison, freeing 27 Afghan civilians who were shackled and held captive, an official said. Thirteen Taliban fighters were killed in the raid in the Musa Qala district of the southern province of Helmand, provincial spokesman Dawood Ahmadi said Wednesday. Five captives had been slain before the force arrived, he said.
#4: In the east, hundreds of demonstrators blocked a main highway between Kabul and the eastern city of Jalalabad on Wednesday to protest two deaths in a night raid. The protesters said the two men killed were innocent civilians, while NATO said its forces killed two insurgents. Ghafor Khan, chief of Surkh Rod district, said a father and his son were killed and three others were wounded in the Tuesday night operation. He said police were trying to control the crowd to keep the demonstration peaceful.
#5: NATO said Afghan and coalition troops killed two insurgents and detained several others while pursuing a bomb-making expert who was making sophisticated explosives for the Taliban. The coalition said the joint force took enemy fire before fatally shooting two men.
#6: In a separate incident, NATO said a civilian irrigating a field in the Arghandab district of Kandahar province was killed Tuesday during a fire fight. The coalition said the civilian was shot and killed when a joint force being attacked by insurgents returned fire. Coalition forces planned to meet with local elders about the shooting, which remains under investigation.
#7: Also in Kandahar, NATO said a joint force killed 10 insurgents Tuesday while pursuing a Taliban commander responsible for arranging weapons deliveries. Six insurgents who ran from a compound in Panjwai district were killed in an air strike and four others were killed by ground forces.
#8: Four soldiers of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) received injuries as they came under attack in east Afghanistan, a press release of the alliance said Wednesday. "Four International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) service members were wounded by a grenade in eastern Afghanistan Tuesday," the press release added. ISAF and Afghan National Army forces were conducting a partnered patrol in the Sayyidabad district, Wardak province, when the grenade was thrown from a mosque wounding four service members.
#9: An explosion heard in Afghan capital Kabul on Wednesday. Meantime, an official who declined to be identified told Xinhua that the blast was a controlled-explosion carried by security forces in the eastern part of the city.
#10: A road construction worker was killed and one other was wounded in a road side bomb explosion in southern Paktia Province, provincial officials said. Confirming the incident, a spokesperson for governor of Paktia said after a vehicle of the road construction company hit a road side mine in Gardez, the provincial capital, earlier today, one worker of the company was killed and the other was injured.
#11: It was a morning filled with tragedy, tears and grievance for the local villagers of Dam Abad when an insurgent rocket landed in their village, killing three small children and injuring their mother. "This morning three insurgent rockets were launched toward Camp Salerno," said Capt. Anthony Clark, commander of the base defense force, Task Force Red Knight, 3rd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, from Louisville, Ky. "One of the rockets struck the village near the base, killing two Afghan girls, ages 4 and 5, and injuring a third girl, as well as their mother. The other two rockets were ineffective."
#12: An unmanned drone air craft crashed in southeastern Paktika province, ISAF said. The crash was caused by mechanical failure and the wreckage was recovered, it said
DoD: Spc. Jamal M. Rhett
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
War News for Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
War News for Tuesday, August 17, 2010
NATO is reporting the deaths of two ISAF soldiers from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, August 17th. News reports these to be American soldiers.
NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in western Afghanistan on Tuesday, August 17th. News reports this is also an American.
Suicide Bomber Attacks Police in North Caucasus
Reported security incidents
Baghdad:
#1: A suicide bomber blew himself up Tuesday among hundreds of army recruits who had gathered near a military headquarters in an attack officials said killed 60 and wounded 125, one of the bloodiest bombings in months in the Iraqi capital. Yasir Ali, who had been waiting outside the military headquarters since 4 a.m. with about 1,000 other hopeful recruits, said he saw the bomber, describing him as a blond young man. Ali said the bomber was sitting quietly among the recruits, then walked up to an officer collecting I.D. cards and blew himself up. Tuesdays' blast took place around 7:30 a.m. outside the former Iraqi Ministry of Defense building that now houses the army's 11th division headquarters. The site receives about 250 new recruits each week as Iraqi security forces try to bolster their ranks to prepare for the U.S. military's looming withdrawal after seven years of war.
#2: The head of the Iraqi Cassation Court was wounded on Tuesday when a roadside bomb hit his car in western Baghdad. “The blast occurred in al-Yarmook neighbourhood, western Baghdad,” a local security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
Diyala Prv:
#1: Three judges were wounded on Tuesday when a roadside bomb hit their civilian vehicle southwest of Baaquba city. “The blast occurred at the major street in Baladroz district, 45 km southwest of Baaquba,” a local provincial source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. In addition to the three judges, a policeman was also wounded as he was with the judges in the same vehicle.
Kirkuk:
#1-2: Two patrols of U.S. and police forces came under two bomb explosions in southern and western Kirkuk, without leaving casualties, two security sources said on Monday. “An explosives charge went off at 10:20am on Monday (Aug. 16) near U.S. patrol on the Taza-Lilan road in Lilan district, southern Kirkuk,” a source from the joint coordination center in Kirkuk told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “Another bomb exploded targeting a police vehicle patrol in al-Huweija district, southwest of Kirkuk, at 9:00 am, causing some material damage,” he added.
Mosul:
#1: One civilian was killed and his son was wounded by army forces in eastern Mosul, a police source said on Monday. “One civilian was killed and his son was injured in a random shootout in al-Jazaer neighborhood, eastern Mosul, when army forces were tracking down gunmen,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
Al Anbar Prv:
#1: Gunmen in a speeding car opened fire on and killed a relative of a provincial councilman from the western province of Anbar just outside the city of Falluja, 50 km (32 miles) west of Baghdad, police said.
Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A bomb blast in Spin Boldak district of Kandahar province in south Afghanistan claimed the life of tribal elder and injured two others on Tuesday, spokesman for provincial administration Zalmai Ayubi said. "The tribal elder Hajji Zukria was sitting in his shop in Spin Boldak bazaar when a bomb planted by militants went off killing him on the spot and injured two of his friends," Ayubi told Xinhua. He did not provide more details. However, locals described Hajji Zukria as pro-government chieftains and blamed Taliban militants for the attack.
#2: A remote-controlled bomb on a motorcycle parked on a bridge in the southern city of Ghazni detonated prematurely on Tuesday, killing two passers-by and wounding another five, including two children, police told AFP. The blast took place just as a police convoy was about to pass, said Mohammad Osman, commander of Afghanistan's southeastern police zone. "Two civilians were martyred and another five were wounded," he said. The bomber had been planning to trigger the device by remote control and was injured in the explosion and has been arrested, Osman said.
#3: In a similar incident late Monday, a roadside bomb ripped through a civilian vehicle in Shindand district, in the western province of Herat, killing five civilians and injuring two, said Lal Mohammad Omarzai, the district chief. "Three women, a man and a child were killed and two other women were hurt," he said.
#4: Six policemen were poisoned and then killed on Monday afternoon in turbulent Kandahar province by the Taliban, provincial officials said. Kandahar Police Chief remarked that the policemen were killed after they ate poisoned food at iftar (fast breaking time) in Dand district of Kandahar. Provincial security officials acknowledged that investigations are on the ground tracking the event. The food was poisoned by their cook and the cook has escaped with the Taliban, officials added.
#5: Afghan and ISAF troops killed six insurgents while in pursuit of a former Taliban commander in northern Kunduz on Monday, ISAF said.
MoD: Sapper Ishwor Gurung
DoD: Staff Sgt. Michael A. Bock
Monday, August 16, 2010
War News for Monday, August 16, 2010
The Washington Post is reporting the death of an American soldier from an insurgent attack in Baquba, Diyala province, Iraq in Sunday, August 15th.
US backs Afghan plan to ditch security contractors
Afghan police seize 17 tonnes of explosive material
Petraeus Opposes a Rapid Pullout in Afghanistan
Secret Assault on Terrorism Widens on Two Continents
Reported security incidents
Baghdad:
#1: Four civilians were wounded when a sticky bomb attached to their car went off in eastern Baghdad. “The blast occurred last night in Palestine Street, eastern Baghdad,” a local security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency on Monday.
#2: An IED went off near a civilian vehicle in al-Amiriya, western Baghdad, leaving two on board and another nearby wounded and causing severe damage to the vehicle,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
#3: Another IED blast targeted an Iraqi army patrol in the area of Camp al-Rasheed, southeastern Baghdad, leaving two soldiers wounded and damaging their vehicle, the source said.
Diyala Prv:
#1: A suicide car bomber rammed his car into a bus carrying Iranian pilgrims, killing one Iraqi man and wounding 10 Iranians, in the town of Muqdadiya, 80 km (50 miles) northeast of Baghdad, a source in the security operation centre of Diyala province said. Another police source in the town said the incident involved a parked car bomb.
#2: A U.S. Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) crashed yesterday evening in Iraq’s Diyala province, approximately 2 kilometers northeast of Muqdadiyah. The small UAV impacted an open area outside of a residential suburb after experiencing engine problems.
Mahmoudiya:
#1: “An IED went off at the entrance of al-Mahmoudiya town, (30 km) southern Baghdad, leaving one civilian killed and three others wounded and damaging vehicles near the blast site,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
Abu Ghraib:
#1: “Another IED attached to a civilian vehicle went off in Abu Ghraib area, (25 km) western Baghdad, killing a civilian and wounded two others who were on board and causing severe damage to the nearby buildings and vehicles,” the source added.
Karbala:
#1: Unknown gunmen on Sunday used guns with silencers to rob a gold shop in Karbala city, wounding four civilians. “An armed group driving an OPEL car robed today a gold shop at the al-Nassir neighborhood, 3 km southern Karbala,” an eyewitness told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. He noted that the gunmen used guns with silencers. “They wounded a number of people, including the shop’s owner, and then they escaped to an unknown place taking away gold items and money from the shop,” the eyewitness added.
Umm Qsar:
#1: The U.S. Navy said Sunday that gunmen armed with AK-47 rifles had boarded four commercial ships in a two-hour time span in the vicinity of an Iraqi oil terminal in the northern Persian Gulf on Aug. 8. The assailants took computers, cell phones and money from crew members before fleeing, according to Lt. John Fage, a spokesman for the Navy's Fifth Fleet in Bahrain. The vessels were identified as the American ship Sagamore, the Antigua-flagged Armenia, the North Korean Crystal Wave and the Syrian Sana Star. The seaborne robbery — which occurred about 20 miles (32 kilometers) off the port of Umm Qasr in an area patrolled jointly by the U.S. and Iraqi navies — raised concern about a new threat in the strategic area.
Basra:
#1: “A roadside bomb went off today near the house of a police officer (major) in the 50-Hosh area, 7 km north of the Basra city, causing damage to the house but without any casualties,” the source added.
Mosul:
#1: Two policemen were killed and three others wounded in two separate attacks with improvised explosive devices in western and southern Mosul city on Sunday, a local police source said. “An IED went off in al-Tojjar neighborhood, western Mosul, near a police patrol of the 7th Emergency Contingent, leaving a policeman and three others injured,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
“A second IED went off near a federal police patrol on the Baghdad road, southern Mosul, killing a patrolman,” the source added.
#3: One Iraqi army soldier was killed on Sunday and another wounded when unknown gunmen attacked an army checkpoint eastern Mosul city. “The attack occurred in the al-Qadissiya al-Thaniya neighborhood, eastern Mosul,” a local police source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
#4: Gunmen shot dead a policeman manning a checkpoint in central Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.
#5: A civilian was killed and his son wounded during a shootout when Iraqi army forces chased suspected militants in eastern Mosul, police said.
Al Anbar Prv:
#1: A policeman was wounded after gunmen waged an attack with hand-grenades on Sunday, a source in al-Falluja police said. “Unidentified gunmen on a bicycle attacked a Falluja police patrol that stopped in the area of Jubail, southeastern Falluja, with hand-grenades, leaving a patrolman wounded,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Five civilians were killed and 20 others were wounded when a bomb exploded at a funeral in southern Afghanistan, a government spokesman said Monday. Daud Ahmadi said a Taliban bomb detonated on Sunday in Sangin, a district in Helmand province, killing at least five civilians and injuring 20 others. 'People were gathered in a cemetery to bury a woman when the blast occurred,' he said.
#2: A NATO airstrike killed five insurgents when they were trying to plant mines on a road in Sangin's Mullah Adam area on Sunday.
#3: Four civilians sustained injuries as a suicide bomber blew himself up in Afghan north province of Kunduz on Monday, police said. "A terrorist planted explosive device in bicycle and blew himself up in Aqtapa bazaar of Qalai Zal district this morning wounding four innocent civilians including three children," district police chief Syed Ibrahim told Xinhua. The suicide bomber was also killed in the blast, he further said.
MoD: Sapper Darren Foster
MoD: Rifleman Remand Kulung
Sunday, August 15, 2010
News of the Day for Sunday, August 15, 2010
Reported Security Incidents
Baghdad
Bomb attack on a minibus kills 3, including a police officer.
Series of three small explosions in a commercial district kills one civilian and injures 3.
Roadside bomb attack on a police patrol near al-Shaab stadium kills one officer.
RPG kills one, injures three on a "main street" in eastern Baghdad. Oddly, only DPA mentions this incident, rather cryptically.
Jurf al-Sakhr
Three people killed, one injured, in drive-by shooting of worshipers exiting the Sunni Abid Wais mosque following morning prayers.
Wassit
A pharmacist, recently returned from studies in the U.S., is murdered in a home invasion.
Other News of the Day
Asharq Al-Awsat reports various scuttlebutt about negotiations to form a new government, including a claim that the Dawa Party has voted to find an alternative candidate to Nuri al-Maliki. It is not clear, however, whether the Sadrists will support another Dawa candidate. You can never tell about this anonymously sourced stuff, but regardless, it isn't clear that such a move would bring us any closer to a new government, since al-Iraqiya won't necessarily accept any National Alliance PM.
WaPo's Ernesto Londono interviews special forces commander Brig. Gen. Patrick Higgins on the state of AQI. He says the organization's "cellular structure" is intact despite the death of some leaders; and that it is financing itself through kidnapping and extortion. He discusses Iraqi commando forces:
When the US military draws down to 50,000 troops in Iraq by the end of the month, the US Special Operations command here will remain at about 4,500-strong. Higgins said US commandos have no plans to conduct unilateral counterterrorism operations in the months ahead, and he said their Iraqi counterparts have become more proficient.
“We’ve got them to a level of what I call good enough-ness,’’ he said. “Tactically, they are very sound.’’
The Iraqi commandos will continue to need US support in gathering and analyzing intelligence and putting together cases to support prosecutions, he said.
Iraq’s main counterterrorism unit reports to Maliki, a setup that many in the previous Parliament protested. As a result, the unit operates with no legal mandate and subsists on funds diverted from the Defense Ministry.
Anthony Shadid uses the occasion of the departure of U.S. Ambassador Christopher Hill to comment on the state of power sharing negotiations. His analysis is succinct and makes some specific points we don't hear much. A) The nascent deal would sideline the Sadrists (See Asharq al-Awsat story, above), and B) Iran is very leery of Iyad Allawi.
Afghanistan Update
Dept. of This is all we need:Geological survey said to find oil deposits estimated at 1.8 billion barrels in Balkh and Jawzjan provinces. That may sound like a lot but it's really pretty small potatoes as oil fields go. Still, one more excuse to keep fighting . . .
Uzbek militants attack a police in Kunduz, killing one officer. NATO forces then attack the militants' vehicle from the air, killing two. The attackers are said to be from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU).
Twenty militants of various nationalities affiliated with the Haqqani network are said to be killed over several days in southern Paktia province. Although this is billed as a joint coalition-Afghan operation, most of the casualties are said to result from NATO air strikes.
Three killed, dozens injured in ethnic violence in Kabul. Accounts of the conflict between resident Hazaras and nomadic Kuchis are widely disparate. Also, a dispute over land between Haider Khil and Warza tribes in Khost leaves 8 dead. This just serves to remind us once again that there is no such thing as a nation state of Afghanistan. -- C
Quote of the Day
There is something about the breed of today’s top military brass that makes them come off more like politician/cheerleaders as opposed to the cigar chomping Generals George Patton and Chesty Puller who told the truth, regardless of who it offended. How a generation that grew up—or in some cases, served—in the Vietnam conflict—with all its lies, manipulations, and cover-ups to continue a losing conflict—could today replay those sordid events upon assuming power and rank is beyond me.
Clayton Swisher Interesting commentary by an American analyst for al Jazeera
Saturday, August 14, 2010
War News for Saturday, August 14, 2010
The British MoD is reporting the death of a British ISAF soldier from small arms fire in the Sangin district, Helmand province, Afghanistan on Friday, August 13th.
The British MoD is reporting the death of another British ISAF soldier from small arms fire in the Nad-e Ali District, Helmand province, Afghanistan on Friday, August 13th.
The Australian DoD is reporting the death of an Australian SAS soldier from small arms fire in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, August 14th.
The Washington Post is reporting the death of an American ISAF soldier in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan presumably on Saturday, August 14th.
Reported security incidents
Baghdad:
#1: In the first attack, gunmen armed with silenced pistols killed two policemen asleep in their patrol car at a security checkpoint in the Shiite-dominated New Baghdad neighborhood, said an officer with the federal police in Baghdad. The assailants then set the car on fire and fled, he said.
#2: A half-hour later, a drive-by shooting on a checkpoint killed two more policemen in the Amil area, another Shiite neighborhood, in southwest Baghdad, two other Baghdad police officials said. Two passers-by were injured, they said.
#3: Around the same time, gunmen attacked a checkpoint manned by government-backed Sunni fighters from groups known as Awakening Councils in the mostly Shiite Shaab area in the capital’s northeast. One of the fighters was killed and two were injured, the police officials said.
#4: Iraqi civilians also are coming under attack. A bomb attached to a car in the Amil area of Baghdad blew up Saturday morning, injuring its driver and three bystanders, officials said.
A bomb attached to car wounded a passenger and a policeman in southwestern Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.
#5: Two roadside bombs went off in synchronicity in al-Amil neighborhood, wounding two policemen,” the source added.
Samarra:
#1: Several bombs exploded outside the house of a police officer, severely damaging his home and setting his car on fire. When police and Sons of Iraq fighters arrived at the scene and entered the apparently booby-trapped house, it exploded, wounding eight people, including two children and a woman, police said.
#2: In another incident in the al-Shuhadaa neighborhood of Samarra, a number of bombs exploded outside the house of another police officer, authorities said, wounding six members of his family and severely damaging his home.
#3: The home of a Sons of Iraq leader in the al-Jubairiya neighborhood in the city was targeted in another attack, police said. Attackers planted several bombs and gas cylinders with TNT outside his house. At least four members of his family were wounded.
#4: A roadside bomb wounded six policemen when it exploded near their patrol in central Samarra, 100 km (62 miles) north of Baghdad, on Friday, police said.
Hawija:
#1: A bomb attached to a bike wounded a policeman and a civilian when it exploded near a police patrol in Hawija, 210 km (130 miles) north of Baghdad, on Friday, police said.
Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Gunmen have attacked a passenger bus and shot dead at least 10 people in insurgency-hit south-west Pakistan, officials said on Saturday. The incident took place in Aab-e-Gum area, 75 kilometres south-east of Quetta, the capital of oil and gas rich Baluchistan province, on Friday night. "A group of 30-35 gunmen stopped the bus in Aab-e-Gum area, off-loaded passengers at gunpoint and shot dead 10 of them," said top provincial home department official Akbar Hussain Durrani. He said the bus was travelling to Quetta from the eastern city of Lahore and all those killed in the attack were Punjabi-speaking people. A senior local official in Aab-e-Gum area, Ismail Kurd, also confirmed the incident and casualties.
#2: Taliban militants attacked a private company in west Afghanistan leaving three guards of the company dead and injured 13 others, police spokesman in western region Abdul Rauf Ahmadi said Saturday. "A group of armed Taliban rebels raided the company on Herat- Badghis highway on Friday as a result three guards of the company were killed and 13 others were injured," Ahmadi told Xinhua, adding that one Taliban militant was also killed in the firefight lasted for several hours. However, he could not give the name of the company, saying it was a local company escorted oil tankers supplying fuel to NATO- led troops in the western region.
#3: A joint Afghan and NATO-led forces conducting operations in Kunduz province north of Afghanistan had killed two insurgents on Saturday after the combined forces came under attack from small arms and rocket-propelled grenades, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in a press release. "With support from Luna unmanned aerial vehicle, the International Security Assistance Force operating in Kunduz province was able to identify and destroy an insurgent cannon firing position located inside a compound with a guided anti-tank missile," the press release added. Through the course of the operation, it said, ISAF forces received small arms and RPG fire from multiple locations, adding no ISAF troops were injured during the course of the attack and no civilian injuries were reported.
#4: Four policemen were killed and four others were injured as their van ran over a mine in Helmand province south of Afghanistan on Saturday, spokesman for provincial administration Daud Ahmadi said. "The incident occurred in Ghershk district this morning as a mine planted by militants struck a police van killing four police constables on the spot and wounding four others," Ahmadi told Xinhua.
#5: Also in the south, three Afghan civilians were killed and another was wounded by insurgents in three separate incidents in Kandahar province on Friday. Two of the civilians were killed when a rocket-propelled grenade hit their vehicle in Arghandab district. Another was fatally stabbed by insurgents near the governor's compound in Kandahar city.
#6: In the north, NATO and coalition troops killed two insurgents Saturday after a patrol came under small arms and rocket-propelled grenade fire in Kunduz province, NATO said.
MoD: Lieutenant John Charles Sanderson
DoD: Cpl. Kristopher D. Greer
DoD: Sgt. Jose L. Saenz III
DoD: Sgt. Christopher N. Karch
DoD: Cpl. Kristopher D. Greer
AU/DoD: Trooper Jason Thomas Brown
Friday, August 13, 2010
War News for Friday, August 13, 2010
OPEC sees continued supply overhang on slow demand
Flow Of Oil From Iraq To Iran Raises Concerns
Police thwart bomb attack in Turkey's capital: Suspected Kurdish rebels opened fire on a military convoy and wounded five soldiers in southeast Turkey, a report said Friday, while police acting on a tip deactivated a bomb near a police station in the Turkish capital.
“What a beauty!” - Polish soldiers blow up Afghan dwelling...
S. Korean troops in Afghanistan to launch official mission in October
Soldier in axe attack faced long odds to wed
Showcase Afghan Army Mission Turns Into Debacle
Ambassador Leaves Iraq With Much Still Unsettled
61 trucks loaded with 300 tons of explosives go missing in central India
Reported security incidents
Mosul:
#1: One Iraqi soldier was killed and two others were wounded in an armed attack on a checkpoint in western Mosul, a police source said. “Unidentified gunmen opened fire on Thursday afternoon (Aug. 12) on an army checkpoint in al-Senaa al-Qadiema region, western Mosul, killing a soldier and injuring another one,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
DoD: Sgt. Jose L. Saenz III
DoD: Sgt. Christopher N. Karch
Thursday, August 12, 2010
War News for Thursday, August 12, 2010
The British MoD is reporting the death of a British ISAF soldier at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham on Wednesday, August 11th. The soldier was wounded in a roadside bombing in the Nahr-e Saraj district, Helmand province, Afghanistan on Tuesday, July 13th.
NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on on Wednesday, August 11th.
Iraq agrees to Iran-Syria gas pipeline plan
Iraq army general warns on US withdrawal
Amid Setbacks, White House Says End of Iraqi Combat Mission Remains on Target
U.S. Military Seeks Slower Pace to Wrap Up Afghan Role
Reported security incidents
Baghdad:
#1: A rocket landed in Baghdad's southern Doura district, killing one person and wounding three others, an interior ministry source said.
#2: Gunmen killed two policemen in the northern Qahira district of Baghdad, an interior ministry source said.
Amarra:
#1: Army forces found on Wednesday a bike bomb in southern Amara, director of the media department of the 10th division of the Iraqi army said. “A force from the 10th division of the Iraqi army found a motorcycle bomb in al-Wawiya region in Qalaat Saleh, southern Amara,” Colonel Azhar al-Fetlawi told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “Anti-explosives experts managed to defused it, without damage,” he added.
Diwaniya:
#1: Four Katyusha rockets hit U.S. camp ECHO in Diwaniya on Wednesday, according to an army source. “Camp ECHO, 3 km west of Diwaniya, came under four Katyusha rockets, but no information were obtained about casualties or losses,” the source, who declined to have his name mentioned, told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
Shurqat:
#1: A police officer survived an attempt on his life by a bomb blast on Thursday in al-Shurqat district, a police source said. “A bomb, stuck to the vehicle of Colonel Ali Dakheel, from al-Shurqat police station, went off in al-Sahel al-Aysar region, injuring two of his guards,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
Mosul:
#1: Two corpses of young men were found in eastern Mosul on Wednesday, according to a security source. “Policemen found on Wednesday afternoon (Aug. 11) two bodies of young men in al-Tahrir neighborhood, eastern Mosul,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
Tal Afar:
#1: A policeman and his father were wounded in a sticky bomb explosion in northern Talafar on Wednesday, an official police source said. “A bomb, stuck to a civilian vehicle carrying a cop and his father, went off on Wednesday afternoon (Aug. 11) in al-Nakhwa street in Hasankouwi region, northern Talafar,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The blast wounded the two men,” he added, noting they were rushed to the Talafar public hospital for treatment.
Al Anbar Prv:
#1: A policeman was killed and five others wounded when gunmen opened fire on a patrol just north of Fallujah, security officials said Thursday. The unidentified militants struck outside of the city, some 60 kilometres west of the capital Baghdad, and then fled the scene.
#2: “Unknown gunmen opened fire on a police captain inside his car on the Baghdad-Falluja road, eastern Falluja, killing him instantly and damaging his car,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
#3: “A roadside bomb went off near a police vehicle patrol in Jabiel region, eastern Falluja, injuring two policemen and damaging their car,” the source said.
Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: At least 20 insurgents were killed in Afghanistan's southeast in an operation against the Haqqani network, whose leader Washington wants designated a terrorist, the NATO-led alliance said Thursday. Air strikes were called in after Afghan and International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) troops found dozens of insurgents in "entrenched fighting positions" in a mountainous area of Dzadran district in Paktia, not far from the Pakistan border, ISAF said in a statement.
#2: An Afghan woman was shot and killed during a firefight between coalition forces and insurgents in the country's south, NATO's International Security Assistance Force reported Thursday. Afghan and coalition forces came under small-arms fire Wednesday in the Musa Qal' ah district of Helmand province when they fired back at the insurgents, hitting the woman.
#3: A crowd of about 300 villagers yelled "Death to the United States" and blocked a main road in eastern Afghanistan on Thursday as they swore that U.S. forces had killed three innocent villagers, officials said. NATO forces rejected the claim, saying they had killed several suspected insurgents and detained a local Taliban commander in the overnight raid. Thursday's raid happened before dawn in Wardak province's Sayed Abad district, a Taliban-dominated area where Afghan police can only go with very tight security, according to district police Chief Abdul Karim Abed. Elders from Zarin Khil village said American troops stormed into a family's house and shot three brothers — all young men — and then took their father into custody, Abed said. Police are investigating the allegations but could not yet confirm or deny them, he said. NATO called the men "suspected insurgents" and a spokesman, Capt. Ryan Donald, said they drew weapons and pointed them at the coalition troops. "The assault force engaged the threat, killing the men. After securing the compound, the assault force detained one suspected insurgent," NATO said in a statement.
DoD: Pfc. John E. Andrade
