War News for Friday, May 31, 2013

Pakistani Taliban withdraw peace talks offer

Red Cross halts work in Afghanistan after attack


Reported security incidents
#1: Spc. Michael Millwood, 23, of Rock Hill, has been in eastern Afghanistan for about three months with the Third Infantry Division Special Troop Battalion. He works as a combat engineer – clearing roads of bombs and explosives. The unit was “out on patrol when insurgents started firing,” Millwood said. The attack happened out in the open, and the soldiers dropped to the ground to return fire.

#2: A man was killed when a powerful bomb exploded at Badabair area in the outskirts of the city here on Friday. According to spokesman of Badabair police station, the incident occurred at Masogujar village where a bomb planted on roadside exploded with huge bang. As a result, Najeem Khan, who was passing through the area, came under the attack and killed instantly.

#3: Three security personnel were killed and 15 were injured in a clash with militants in the northwestern tribal region of Orakzai on Friday, security sources said. The clash took place in Orakzai’s Samo Kali area after which forces retaliated killing 20 militants.

At least 18 militants were killed and five hideouts were destroyed in shelling by jetfighters in Para Chamkani area in central Kurram Agency on Thursday, sources said.The sources said the security forces jetfighters pounded the hideouts of the militants in Para Chamkani, killing 18 militants and destroying their five hideouts.

#4: Pakistan Army’s convoy was attacked in a remote area at Bannu district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were military offensive is being carried out against insurgents, FP news desk reported. Officials said a soldier was killed and three others were injured when militants attacked military vehicles in Jani Khel area of Bannu.

#5: A Pakistani soldier was killed and three others were injured in a roadside bomb blast near the North Waziristan tribal region Friday morning, security officials said. A vehicle of the Bomb Disposal Squad was hit by a landmine at Jani Khel, a town at the edge of North Waziristan, killing a soldier on the spot. Members of the squad were scanning the area for the convoy of security forces when the blast occurred.

#6: Units of security forces raided Taliban hideouts in Chardara district of Kunduz provine 260 km north of Kabul on Friday killing four militants, a local official said. "Personnel of security forces including local policemen raided Taliban hideouts in Chardara district early today morning killing four rebels including their commander Mullah Rahmatullah," district governor Abadullah Talwar told Xinhua. Three more militants were injured in the operation, he added.

#7: Clash between Taliban militants and pro-government villagers in Andar district of Ghazni province, 125 km south of Kabul, has left 31 Taliban fighters dead on Friday. "Taliban militants raided three villages in Andar district at 01:00 a.m. local time and we resisted. The gun battle lasted for six hours during which 31 rebels, including Pakistanis, Arabs and Chechens, were killed and the remaining rebels run away," commander of villagers, Latif Kamran told Xinhua.

#8: According to local authorities in eastern Nuristan province of Afghanistan, cross-border shelling was resumed by Pakistan and several artillery rounds and rockets were fired in this province during the past two days. The officials further added that the shelling was resumed in Kamdish district, which has also incurred casualties to local residents. Provincial governor spokesman Zahir Bahand said majority of the rockets landed in Daba village at Gawhardish area in Kamdish district. He said at least one local resident was killed and two others were injured during the shelling and the central government in Kabul has been informed of the shelling by Pakistan.

War News for Thursday, May 30, 2013

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from a roadside bombing in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Thursday, May 30th.

Major attack on Afghan capital 'thwarted'

Lawyer: Soldier to plead guilty in killing of 16 Afghan villagers

British Defense Chief Confirms Detentions of Afghans at Base


Reported security incidents
#1: Two attackers and a security guard were killed on Wednesday during an assault on a Red Cross building in Afghanistan and a gun battle between police and militants, an Interior Ministry spokesman said. Insurgents stormed the International Committee of the Red Cross building in Jalalabad, in eastern Afghanistan. Afghan parliament member Haji Hazrat Ali told CNN the incident started with one attacker blowing himself up and others entering the building. Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said forces surrounded the building and engaged in a gun battle with the attackers. Seven foreign nationals were rescued and one ICRC foreign staffer was slightly injured, he said.

#2: At least 17 militants were killed and several others injured when Pakistani jets bombed militant hideouts in the Kurram tribal region during a security forces operation on Thursday, local media reported. The militants were killed when four insurgent hideouts were destroyed in the action in central Kurram's Tabay area. Moreover, several militants were also injured, official sources told reporters.

#3: Twenty-two insurgents have been killed in eastern Afghan provinces during operations started on Wednesday, said the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) on Thursday. "Afghan National Security and Coalition Forces killed 22 insurgents, detained one suspected insurgent and found and safely cleared 11 improvised explosive devices during operations in eastern Afghanistan throughout the past 24 hours," the ISAF's Regional Command-East said in a statement. The raids were conducted in Paktiya, Paktika, Khost, Nangarhar, Panjshir and Wardak provinces, the statement added.

#4: Commandos from the 2nd and 6th Special Operations Kandak killed four insurgents and detained 86 insurgents in Tagab district, Kapisa province, May 28. The Commandos killed and apprehended the insurgents while conducting clearing operations in Alah Say and Bedraou valleys.

War News for Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Reported security incidents
#1: A pair of suspected U.S. missiles fired from an unmanned aircraft killed four alleged militants early Wednesday near the Afghan border in Pakistan, intelligence officials said, the first drone strike since Pakistan's nationwide elections earlier this month. Wednesday's strike came in the North Waziristan tribal region, a stronghold for militants in the mountainous stretch of land bordering Afghanistan to the west. Pakistani intelligence officials said the missiles hit a house in the town of Miran Shah, the main town in North Waziristan.

#2: Seven insurgents wearing police uniforms and bomb-laden vests attacked a government compound in a usually secure province in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, killing one police officer, officials said.  Governor Kramuddin Karim said the attack targeted the government complex in the provincial capital of Bazarak, and that all seven militants were killed. 

#3: Afghan army and police supported by the NATO-led coalition forces have eliminated 29 armed Taliban militants and detained 45 others during different operations started on Tuesday, the country's Interior Ministry said Wednesday. "Afghan National Police (ANP), army and the coalition forces conducted several clearance operations over the past 24 hours, killing 29 armed Taliban and detaining 45 other armed suspects," the ministry said in a statement. Eight other militants were wounded during the operations conducted in Baghlan, Kapisa, Badakhshan, Sari Pul, Kandahar, Uruzgan, Ghazni, Paktiya and Helmand provinces, it noted.

#4: Earlier on Wednesday, four people, including three school girls, were wounded when two back-to-back Improvised Explosive Devices ( IEDs) went off near a girl school in Ghazni city, the provincial capital of eastern Ghazni province 120 km south of capital Kabul. However, a militant, who used a remote-control device to initiate the blasts, was killed by ANP in a exchange of fire shortly after the explosions, the provincial deputy police chief Assadullha Insafi told Xinhua.


DoD: Spc. Christopher R. Drake

War News for Monday, May 28, 2013

Reported security incidents
#1: An official says two guests invited by an Afghan police commander to eat with him at his checkpoint picked up weapons after dinner and opened fire, killing him and six of his men.

#2: lawmaker says a roadside bomb under a bridge has hit his convoy on a major highway north of Kabul, killing five people. Obaidullah Ramin, a lawmaker from northern Baghlan province, says he does not believe he was intentionally targeted by the explosion early Tuesday. Police confirmed his account. He said the main highway leading north out of Kabul is often mined by Taliban insurgents to target official-looking convoys.

#3: Twenty insurgents and six policemen were killed in violence related incidents across the country over the past 24 hours, officials said on Tuesday. The latest fatalities occurred on Monday, when 15 insurgents, including three Pakistani nationals, were killed during a clash with security forces in southern Helmand province. Another 18 insurgents were injured during the clash that took place in the Safar area of Garamser district, the governor’s spokesman, Omar Zhwak, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

#4: In a separate clash, five militants were killed and three others wounded in central Uruzgan province. The clash between police and the rebels occurred in the Gorgin area of Charchino district, the district police chief, 2nd Lt. Wali Dad, said. A policeman was also injured during the two-hour clash, he added.

#5: Three members of the Afghan Local Police (ALP) force were killed on Monday evening when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb in the Arwa area of Khakrez district, the governor’s spokesman, Javed Faisal, said. A local police commander, Asadullah, was also wounded in the blast, he said.

#6: A highway police deputy commander, Maj. Abdul Qayum, was among three policemen killed and seven others wounded as a result of an insurgent attack in northern Jawzjan province on Tuesday. Jawzjan deputy police chief, Col. Syed Mohammad Husaini, said the incident took place in the Seh Shanba village on the outskirts of Shiberghan, the provincial capital.

#7: According to local authorities in eastern Nangarhar province of Afghanistan, unknown gunmen assassinated secretary of Afghan senate chairman in Chaparhar district. The report has also been confirmed by Chaparhar district governor. A spokesman for Nangarhar police department Hazrat Hussain Mashriqi said, “Shafiqullah, secretary of Afghan senate chairman Fazal Hadi Muslimyar was shot dead by unknown gunmen in Lalma area in Chaparhar district on Monday.”

War News for Monday, May 27, 2013

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an indirect fire attack in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday, May 26th.

Afghan police casualties rise as Taliban attacks surge


Reported security incidents
#1: The coalition also said a car bomb hit a Nato convoy early on Monday in the country’s west, but there were no military casualties. Three Afghan civilians were wounded in the blast that hit the convoy in Farah province, deputy governor Mohammad Rasouli said.

A suicide bomber attacked an Italian troop convoy Monday, injuring two soldiers and two Afghan civilians in western Afghanistan, an official said. Farah provincial government spokesman Abdul Rahman Zhwandai said the attacker drove an explosives-filled car and detonated it near the convoy.

#2: Two soldiers were injured in an explosion near a security checkpost in Janikhel area in Frontier Region (FR) Bannu on Sunday, sources said.The sources said explosive device planted by unidentified persons near the security checkpost in Janikhel area went off, leaving two soldiers injured.

#2: An electricity pylon was blown up in the Jaganath area of the district early Sunday, police officials said.They said four bombs planted under the pylon exploded one after the other, causing suspension of the power supply to the Sheikh Mohammadi gridstation in Peshawar for a few hours, the sources added.

#3: Heavy clashes have been reported in eastern Ghazni city after several Taliban militants carried out attack on a number of security check posts on Sunday evening. Deputy provincial governor Mohammad Ali Ahmadi confirming the report said heavy clashes are going on in Khosh, Khak-e-Gharibha and Sanjak areas of Ghazni city. According to reports heavy and light weapons are used during the clashes between Taliban militants and Afghan security forces and there are fears that clashes could harm local residents.

News of the Day for Sunday, May 26, 2013

Defense ministry issues a monthly summary of operations, saying that 441 militants and over 100 Afghan soldiers have died in more than 2,000 military operations. (Afghanistan uses the solar Hijiri calendar, which if I'm not mistaken means they are talking about the just-concluded month of Ǧwayay (in Pashto), which corresponds to the Zodiacal sign of Taurus.)

Twelve people -- 4 Taliban and 8 bystanders-- die when explosives detonate accidentally  in a mosque in Ghazni province. Apparently the Taliban were transporting the explosives and had stopped at the mosque to pray.

In a conceptual art project to promote peace and women's rights, volunteers distribute 10,000 pink balloons in Kabul. ""It is all about staying together and making sense by going beyond language, politics and religion. We all are humans, and this is what brings us closer. Saturday's attack made me quite worried. I called all my volunteers and asked- should we cancel the event? And, every single person who believed in bringing peace back into this country, said no, we must do this, nothing can stop us," said artist Yazmany Arboleda. (The project will now move on to other cities.)

Further details on the attack on the offices of the International Organization for Migration  on Friday, to which Arboleda refers.
 
ISAF says 11 insurgents killed in joint operations on Saturday.

A tractor filled with explosives is seized in Kandahar province, its driver shot dead. Apparently he planned a suicide attack in Kandahar city.

Here's one where I think you need to read between the lines. U.S. Air Force Secretary Michael Donley, in a D.C. press conference, discusses the Afghan Air Force. (To put this in context, although the Afghan army is showing improved competence in ground combat, it still depends on the U.S. for logistical support, including air operations. For the U.S. to truly leave Afghan forces on their own in 2012, this major problem will need to be solved.) While Afghan pilots have been trained, the country has yet to receive transport aircraft. "US Air Force Chief of Staff Gen Mark Welsh, who visited Afghanistan recently, said he was quite impressed by the progress being made by the Afghan air force. . . . Afghan pilots have no problem flying airplanes and helicopters. “Their expertise in actually executing the mission is not insignificant.” He added there is, nonetheless, lack of expertise in running and managing an Air Force including larger logistical support and the infrastructure management."

In Iraq, the violence continues, with three separate attacks on security forces killing 5 in Mosul. Arab Deputy Prime Minister Saleh Muhammed Al Mutlaq says Kurdistan should separate from Iraq. Seven Iranian pilgrims are killed in a car bomb attack near Samarra. AFP discusses the recent spike in violence as provoked by Sunni greivances. The Foreign Minister of Syria visits Baghdad to meet with PM Maliki, whose government has been quietly supportive of the Assad regime.

War News for Saturday, May 25, 2013

Reported security incidents
#1: In Kabul, a man wearing an explosives-filled vest died when the vest went off as he left a home in the capital's southeast, police spokesman Hashmatullah Stanekzai said. No one else was killed or wounded, but the accidental detonation may have averted another attack in the city, which has seen two deadly suicide attacks in just over a week.

#2: On Friday afternoon, a suicide car bomber kicked off an assault targeting a guest house for aid workers with the International Organization for Migration. Kabul police on Saturday raised the siege death toll from two to four, including a 6-year-old child, two compound guards and one policeman. All six of the attackers were killed, one in the bomb and five more in an hours-long shootout with police in the upscale neighborhood that is home to the United Nations' office as well as the headquarters of the Afghan Public Protection Force and a hospital run by the National Directorate for Security. Four IOM workers were wounded including an Italian woman badly burned by a grenade, the aid group said.

#3: In the eastern province of Ghazni, another explosion at a local mosque killed four civilians and eight militants during Friday night prayers, local official Qasim Desewal said Saturday. He said that the Taliban had apparently stopped at the mosque in Andar district while traveling and the explosives they were carrying went off while they were inside.

#4: At least four militants were killed on Saturday when fighter jets bombed three militant hideouts in Tirah valley of Khyber tribal region. Reportedly, three militants were also injured in the airstrike.

#5: In another incident, three policemen were injured when their vehicle was hit by remote-control bomb in Upper Dir’s Sahibabad area.
#6: According to details, DPO Kohat, Dilawar Bangush, got injured when his convoy came under rocket and gun attack in Ghaziabad area of Matni near Peshawar from militants when he was coming to Peshawar from Kohat. Reinforcement of police was called in from Peshawar after which exchange of fire between police and militants took place. At least six police personnel were killed during exchange of firing. Police and security forces have codoned off the area and launched a search to arrest the militants.