War News for Friday, January 31, 2014

After billions in U.S. investment, Afghan roads are falling apart

Former Canadian Army General jailed in Afghanistan

Ex-soldier Daniel Ménard optimistic about release from Kabul prison


Reported security incidents
#1: An Afghan official says the Taliban have attacked three police checkpoints overnight in the southern province of Helmand. The police repelled the attacks but lost one officer. Police chief of Marjah district, Zamaria Zarak, said on Friday that at least 13 insurgent fighters were killed in the gunbattles that followed the checkpoint attacks.

#2: A bomb blast on Friday killed at least three paramilitary soldiers and wounded four others in Pakistan's restive southwestern province of Balochistan, officials said. The roadside bomb hit a patrol vehicle in the Jahoo area of remote Awaran district.

War News for Thursday, January 30, 2014

Leaked official document records 330 drone strikes in Pakistan

Military Plans Reflect Afghanistan Uncertainty


Reported security incidents
#1: Three Danish soldiers have been injured in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province when their car was hit by an improvised explosive device placed in another vehicle.

#2: Two police officers were killed on Thursday in a suicide car bombing in eastern Afghanistan while another suicide attack was foiled by security men in another area of the same province, officials said. According to provincial spokesman Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, a car bomber targeted a police and intelligence compound in Nangarhar province’s Pachir Wagam district, killing two policemen and injuring four others in the blast. Also on Thursday, a suicide bomber was shot by officers as he tried to attack the home of a member of Afghanistan’s parliament in the city of Jalalabad. Provincial spokesman Hazrat Hussain Mashraqiwal said the bomber’s suicide vest detonated when he was shot. The blast killed only the bomber.

#3: An influential cleric who supported the Afghan Taliban in their war against U.S.-led forces has been shot dead in Quetta, officials said on Thursday. “Two unknown gunmen on a motorcycle shot dead Maulana Abdullah Zakiri” as he was on his way to a mosque on Wednesday night, said senior police official Abdul Razzaq.

#4: A bomb destroyed a pickup truck at a petrol pump in southwestern Pakistan on Thursday, killing one person and wounding 12 others, police said. The explosion took place in the Naseerabad district of Balochistan province.

#5: Ten militants were killed and 20 others injured in an ongoing military operation conducted by Afghan security forces in southern Afghan province of Helmand, authorities said on Thursday.

At least 37 Taliban militants were killed during joint military operations by Afghan national security forces.

War News for Wednesday, January 29, 2014

How America spent $200 million teaching Afghan cops to read — and failed


Reported security incidents
#1: Provincial authorities say a suicide bomber has killed two Afghan soldiers in a market in eastern Afghanistan. Shafiqullah Nang, spokesman for the eastern province of Ghazni, said another three civilians were wounded in the blast in a bazaar in the Qarabagh district of the province on Wednesday.

#2: At least two Afghan national army soldiers were killed following a roadside improvised explosive device (IED) explosion in southern Helmand province of Afghanistan.

#3: At least three members of a family were killed following an explosion triggered by Unexploded ordnance (UXO) in capital Kabul early Wednesday morning.

War News for Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Reported security incidents
#1: Shelling by Pakistan Army’s gunship helicopters in North Waziristan tribal region’s Mir Ali area killed at least two suspected militants on Monday, official security source said. Gunship helicopters targeted several suspected militant hideouts in different areas on Mir Ali tehsil.

#2: In another incident, militants fired three rockets targeting Orakzai tribal region’s agency headquarters in Kalaya area. Separately, a policeman was killed and four others injured when an explosion targeted a police vehicle in the Gomal area of Tank district. A police mobile van was targeted with an IED. SHO Jameel Khan was killed in the explosion.

#3: A suicide bomber was shot dead by Afghan security forces before he manage to reach his target in southern Helmand province of Afghanistan.

#4: At least 17 Taliban militants were killed and 7 others were injured during joint military operations by Afghan national security forces.

#5: According to local authorities in eastern Kunar province of Afghanistan, at least four children were killed following cross-border shelling from Pakistani soil in eastern Kunar province of Afghanistan

War News for Monday, January 27, 2014

Official: U.S. airstrike in Somalia targets suspected militant leader

Afghanistan Exit Is Seen as Peril to Drone Mission


Reported security incidents
#1: A pipeline, carrying natural gas, was blown up in Balochistan's Dera Bugti district, south west of Pakistan, disrupting the gas-supply to the Sui plant from well number 15 in Pir Koh gas field.

#2: At least two militants were killed in a blitz carried out by Pakistan’s military in Mirali area of North Waziristan tribal region on Monday. Military gunship helicopters shelled suspected militant hideouts in several areas of Mirali in North Waziristan region, killing two militants and wounding several others.

#3: Six children from the same family were killed and one injured Sunday while playing with a hand grenade in northwest Pakistan, officials said.

#4: A policeman more allegedly affiliated with insurgents shot dead five of his colleagues and managed to escape the post in western province of Herat, security officials said Monday. The five were killed by their colleagues in Kashk-e-Kuhna district late on last day.

#5: Few mints ago a blast hit Jalalabad capital of Nangrhar province. According to reports the blast occurred close to the medicine faculty of Nangarhar University. Gulestan Ghalib BNA reporter reported, the area was blocked by security forces and it was not allowed to reporters to enter the area. So far there is no any exact figure about the number of casualties of the incident.

#6: About six Afghan civilians were killed and 13 others wounded Sunday when a bus carrying civilians set off a roadside bomb in the country' s southern province of Helmand, a provincial government spokesman said Monday.

#7: An Afghan national army (ANA) soldier was killed following an improvised explosive device (IED) explosion in southern Afghanistan Afghanistan.

#8: In the meantime, Gen. Zahir Azimi said several anti-government armed militants were killed during a special military operation by Afghan army soldiers in Syedabad district of Maidan Wardak province.

#9: At least two Afghan police officers were killed following an explosion in eastern Khost province of Afghanistan on Sunday.

News of the Day for Sunday, January 26, 2014

Suicide bomb attack on an army bus in Kabul kills 4 people, injures 22. Among the dead is radio journalist Shahid Naimi, who happened to be nearby. He is the second Afghan journalist to die this week, after NYT stringer Noor Ahmad Noori was found dead in Helmand province on Thursday. According to Reuters, the other three dead were defense ministry staff on the bus. However, LA Times reporter Hashmat Baktash says 2 of the dead were bystanders.

In a separate story, Khaama says the dead journalist was named Ahmad Shahid. The story gives some biographical details,

Two police officers are killed in Khost by a bomb placed in their vehicle.

Two young athletes are shot dead as they return from a sports complex in Takhar province. This Khaama Press article recounts several recent incidents of attacks on people engaged in sports.

Two civilians killed and 8 injured in consecutive explosions in Nangarhar province.

Karzai continues to refuse to sign security agreement with U.S., comparing it to the Durand deal between British India and Afghan King Abdul Rahman Khan, which produced the present border with Pakistan. (Many Afghans feel cheated by this agreement, which divided the Pashtun people.) Karzai continues to criticize U.S. actions, including air strikes and the operation of Bagram prison: "Bagram is a place where innocent people are tortured and insulted and made dangerous criminal," he said. (Control of the prison was ceded to Afghanistan about 1 year ago.)

Interior Ministry says 3 Taliban killed in past 24 hours and reports various operations around the country. They finally seem to have shut down the copying machine.

Investigatory commission appointed by President Karzai to investigate air strike in Parwan that killed civilians appears to have included fabricated evidence in its report, and exaggerated the number of casualties.

War News for Saturday, January 25, 2014

Thousands near restive Afghan border flee after Pakistani airstrikes against Taliban militants

Taliban rule north of Kabul despite military efforts


Reported security incidents
#1: At least seven Afghan policemen killed and wounded five others following the Taliban attack on a police security check in northern Faryab province of Afghanistan. Police spokesman in Faryab, Massoud Yaqoubi said to FINNBAY, “The incident took place in Qaisar district on Friday night after a group of Taliban militants attacked to police security check.”

At least ten Afghan policemen were killed or injured following militants attack on a police check post in northern Faryab province of Afghanistan.

#2: A 16-year-old man has been killed while participating in an anti-polio campaign in Afghanistan. He was shot dead in the country's southern Helmand province.

#3: Afghan police backed by the army have killed four Taliban fighters during series of operations across the country over the past 24 hours, Interior Ministry said in a statement released here on Saturday. In addition to killing four militants, units of police in conjunction with the army have also injured three more rebels and captured five others, the statement added. There were no casualties on the security personnel, according to the statement.

#4: The Afghan intelligence operatives foiled a coordinated suicide attack on a NATO base in eastern Logar province of Afghanistan.