The present-day U.S. military qualifies by any measure as highly professional, much more so than its Cold War predecessor. Yet the purpose of today’s professionals is not to preserve peace but to fight unending wars in distant places. Intoxicated by a post-Cold War belief in its own omnipotence, the United States allowed itself to be drawn into a long series of armed conflicts, almost all of them yielding unintended consequences and imposing greater than anticipated costs. Since the end of the Cold War, U.S. forces have destroyed many targets and killed many people. Only rarely, however, have they succeeded in accomplishing their assigned political purposes. . . . [F]rom our present vantage point, it becomes apparent that the “Revolution of ‘89” did not initiate a new era of history. At most, the events of that year fostered various unhelpful illusions that impeded our capacity to recognize and respond to the forces of change that actually matter.

Andrew Bacevich


Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Security Incidents for Wednesday, July 18, 2007


The Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA) is strategically located between the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and the settled areas of NWFP. FATA, both historically and traditionally had a unique administrative and political status from the British times since 1849. However, in 1893, a demarcation was raised with Afghanistan called Durand Line. They controlled the area through a combination of effective Political Agents and tribal elders, while leaving the people with their traditions and internal independence.


(1) MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Multi-National Division - Baghdad soldier in a roadside bomb blast in an eastern neighborhood of Baghdad on Tuesday, July 17th. Four other soldiers were wounded in the explosion.

(2) MNF-Iraq is also reporting the deaths of two Multi-National Corps - Iraq soldiers in a roadside bomb blast in a western neighborhood of Baghdad on Tuesday, July 17th.

(3) The Chinese news agency Xinhua is reporting the death of a Marine on Monday, July 16th, from a non-hostile, unspecified cause in Al Anbar Province as quoted by the U.S. military.

(4) A Polish media outlet is reporting the death of Polish Army Major Jarosław Posadzy, 39, in Iraq. Roughly translated, the article states that the major suddenly lost consciousness, and despite immediate resuscitation efforts, his life could not be saved. An autopsy will be performed to determine his exact cause of death. The exact date of death does not appear to be in the article, so we are assuming July 17th for the time being. Posadzy was stationed at the Polish base in Ad Diwaniyah in Qadisiya Province, and was the chief of an independent assault group, part of the 25th Air Cavalry Brigade based out of Tomaszów Mazowiecki, Poland. Posadzy would appear to be a seasoned veteran of Iraq operations, having been interviewed by the BBC for an article that appeared on July 2, 2003, as Poland was preparing to station its first troops there. Posadzy was a captain and chief logistics officer of the 25th Airborne brigade at the time.

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In Country:
#1: AN Australian private security operator was left for dead by American forces after he was seriously wounded during an ambush in southern Iraq. The US refused to provide a helicopter to evacuate the wounded man after being told he was Australian. The Queensland man, who suffered severe leg and abdominal injuries, was delivered to Basra air base by a British road convoy more than seven hours after the attack. The June 25 attack near the town of Al Zubair, 15km southwest of Basra, was carried out by at least six gunmen and involved roadside bombs, small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades. Two Toyota Landcruisers were destroyed in the attack. Three of the man's Iraqi colleagues, including an Iraqi interpreter, died in the attack. The security operator underwent surgery at a British military hospital and was later evacuated out of Iraq. He remains in the region in a serious but stable condition.


Baghdad:
#1: Two MNC-I Soldiers were killed when an improvised explosive device detonated next to their vehicle during combat operations in western Baghdad Tuesday

#2: One Multi-National Division - Baghdad Soldier was killed and four others wounded when an improvised explosive device detonated near their patrol during combat operations in an eastern section of the Iraqi capital July 17

#3: Two roadside bombs planted near a gas station in Baghdad's southeastern Amin neighborhood detonated in quick succession Wednesday morning, killing at least four people and wounding seven others, according to officials. One police officer was killed in the blasts and three other officers were wounded, according to an official with Iraq's Interior Ministry said.

The first blast occurred about 7:30 a.m. near the Dhubat neighborhood, killing four civilians and wounding seven others, police said.

#4: Two more blasts occurred two minutes apart in another area of eastern Baghdad, killing seven people and wounding seven, police said. The dead included two traffic policemen and five civilians, police said.

#5: Seven people were wounded when a mortar round landed on the Ibn al-Nafis Hospital in central Baghdad, just before midday, the ministry said.

#6: a pair of mortars landed on a residential area in southwestern Baghdad's Sada district, killing two people and wounding five others.

#7: the Iraqi security forces traded fire with gunmen in the Nahdha area before midday, wounding a policeman, the source said citing a police report.

#8: Around midday a sniper killed a policeman on the Highway near Al Nahdha bus station not far away from the entrance of the Iraqi ministry of interior.

#9: A statement by the ministry of electricity said that a truck bomb targeted a bus of maintenance workers in western Baghdad yesterday. 4 workers were killed and other 4 were injured.

#10: A mortar shell landed in Al Zawra Park causing injuries to one woman.

#11: A mortar shell landed in Al Baladiyat causing no casualties.

#12: Police found 15 dead bodies throughout Baghdad. 1 in Sadr, 1 in Nahdha, 3 in Amil, 1 in Mansour, 1 in Kadhmiya, 1 in Karradah, 2 in Jihad, 3 in Bayaa, 2 in Saidiyah.


Diyala Prv:
Baquba:
#1: On Tuesday, American soldiers backed by tanks, helicopters and at least one F-16 jetfighter rolled into the eastern part of Baqouba, the capital of Diyala province, to drive al-Qaida in Iraq and other insurgents from the city. Gunfire could be heard Tuesday in the main market district, and Sunni imams in four mosques used loudspeakers to call on their followers to fight the Americans, residents said by telephone. They spoke on condition of anonymity over fears for their safety.

#2: Gunmen killed one citizen and injured two in Al Mafraq area in Baqouba today.

#3: Baqouba hospital received two dead bodies one of a police man.

#4: An IED explosion targeted a tractor in a countryside road near Baqouba. One woman was injured.

Al Safi:
#1: One villager was killed and 15 wounded on Wednesday by gunmen who stormed a Shi'ite village in the troubled Iraqi province of Diyala, two days after 29 people were shot dead in a neighbouring Shi'ite community, police said. The attack on the village of Al-Safi, north of Diyala's main city Baquba, came from three sides at once and there were women and children among the wounded, said Colonel Raghib Radhi, a spokesman for the province's security operations. There was no immediate description of the attackers.

Dwillyah:
#1: Gunmen killed 2 men and injured another near the Dwiliyah village

Al Shaima :
#1: Gunmen killed a woman near Al Shaima village today

Khalis:
#1: Gunmen attacked a bus near Jizani Al Joul area northern of Al Khalis. 7 passengers were killed.


Nasiriyah:
#1: In the southern town of Sukh Al Shukh, near Nasiriyah, a child and a policeman were killed when a mortar fell on a house in the centre of the town, police and a medic said. A woman was also wounded.

#2: In Nasiriyah itself a roadside bomb struck a passing police patrol wounding seven policemen, according to Doctor Hadi Badr, director of Nasiriyah health department, who confirmed the toll from the two incidents.


Kut:
#1: In the central city of Kut, gunmen shot dead a civilian on Wednesday in the Al Jamahir neighbourhood, police Lieutenant Mohammed Jassim said. Jassim said the victim was part of a neighbhourhood watch group that guarded the area at night to prevent insurgent and militia attacks.

#2: Three sisters seriously wounded by a mortar round that struck their home in the southern city of Kut, police said.


Latifiya:
#1: armed men on the Latifiya Road south of Baghdad hijacked three oil trucks and killed the three drivers. The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told VOI 'the armed men blocked the main road with their civilian vehicles, hijacked the tankers coming from al-Durah oil refineries, killed the three drivers and emptied the oil in the street and drove away.'


Amara:
#1: In the southern city of Amara, a former member of the Baath party was shot dead by unknown gunmen, police said.


Iskandariyah:
#1: gunmen and the Iraqi security forces also clashed in the town of Iskandariyah, 50 km south of the capital, resulted in the wounding of three policemen and four civilians, including three women, he said.

#2: A senior Iraqi police officer and five bodyguards went missing on Wednesday during clashes in a town south of Baghdad, police said. Lieutenant-Colonel Salam Shanoun, police chief of Iskandiriya, a restive, religiously mixed town 40 km (25 miles) south of the capital, disappeared during fighting between gunmen and Iraqi security forces which wounded at least seven people. One badly wounded bodyguard has been found and security forces are searching the town, police said. At least four suspected insurgents were killed in the clashes in the Mwelha district, a Sunni stronghold, following attacks on Shi'ites who live nearby.


Mahaweel:
#1: Two bodies dumped in Mahaweel, 75 km south of Baghdad, police said.


Jurf al-Sakhar:
#1: Two civilians killed and four wounded by a roadside bomb near Jurf al-Sakhar, 85 km south of Baghdad, police said.


Basra:
#1: Unknown gunmen stormed the house of a university professor in the early hours of Wednesday in Basra, killing him and seriously wounding his wife, a police source said. "Unknown gunmen broke into the house of Dr. Firas Abdul Zahra in al-Hakimiyah area, central Basra, killing him and seriously wounding his wife," the source, who spoke on anonymity condition, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI). The victim was a working for the Physical Education College in Basra.


Daquq:
#1: Badly mutilated body with multiple gunshot wounds dumped in Daquq, 45 km south of Kirkuk, police said.


Kirkuk:
#1: One civilian shot dead in front of his home in a drive by shooting in a southern part of Kirkuk, police said.

#2: One police man was killed and another was injured when an IED exploded targeting their patrol as it was escorting an ambulance carrying a pregnant woman to the hospital south of Kirkuk near Amirli. The woman wasn’t harmed in the explosion and reached the hospital and gave birth.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: A U.S. marine has died of non-combat related cause in Iraq's western province of Anbar, the U.S. military said on Wednesday. The marine died on Monday, the military said in a statement without providing further details. The incident is under investigation, it added.

Fallujah:
#1: A sniper shot a policeman injuring him in the leg while he was guarding in a check point in central Fallujah today.


Kurdistan region:
#1: Turkish artillery fired in the early hours of Wednesday more than 250 shells onto areas on the Iraqi borders with Turkey, setting ablaze large areas of natural forests with no reports of casualties, a security source said. "Turkish artillery began, today at 4:00 am, shelling areas on the borderline with Turkey in Zakho in northern Iraq," the source, who asked not to be named, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI). The source added "more than 250 artillery shells fell onto areas of Nahili, Niroi and Rikani, 70 km north of Duhuk." These areas were targeted for the first time, said the source noting that the villages affected by the shelling were located along the 80-km-borderline with Turkey

The Iraqi government said Turkish artillery and warplanes bombarded areas of northern Iraq on Wednesday and called on Turkey to stop military operations and resort to dialogue. Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told The Associated Press that the morning bombardment struck areas of the northern province of Dahuk, some 260 miles northwest of Baghdad.



Afghanistan:
#1: On Wednesday, assailants detonated a remote-control bomb and then opened fire on a convoy about 25 miles west of North Waziristan's main town of Miran Shah, said army spokesman Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad. Sixteen soldiers were killed and 14 wounded in the ambush, he said.

#2: Earlier, an explosion hit another convey near Miran Shah, wounding one soldier and up to six civilians, Arshad said.

Police sources said four civilians and a security person were injured in a roadside blast near a convoy of security forces at Miranshah in the region that borders Afghanistan.

#3: Also Wednesday, five rockets were fired at Miran Shah and an explosion ripped through the main entrance to the home of a pro-government tribal elder. No casualties were reported in either incident.

#4: Suspected Taliban militants ambushed a convoy of Afghan police officers driving through a dangerous section of the country's major highway today, killing six, an official said. The ambush came along the Kabul-Kandahar highway, a ribbon of road that connects Afghanistan's two major cities. Long stretches of Highway 1 run through areas controlled by Taliban militants. Six police were killed and five wounded in the ambush in the southern Zabul province, said Gen. Yaqoob Khan, the provincial police chief. Two vehicles in the convoy were damaged, he said.

#5: In the east, insurgents attempted a double suicide bombing at Khost's provincial police station. One bomber blew himself up and killed at least three police. A second bomber who then ran into the police headquarters was shot and killed, said Mohammad Wali Shah, the provincial police chief.

#5: In Kabul, a suicide bomber on foot targeted a convoy of Turkish vehicles on the capital's outskirts, injuring one Afghan civilian, a police official said. The explosion hit a vehicle with diplomatic license plates, but it wasn't immediately known who was traveling inside the car. The blast slightly damaged the vehicle. One Afghan was wounded in the attack, said Zalmay Khan, Kabul's deputy police chief. Only the suicide bomber was killed.

One Turk was slightly wounded in a suicide attack on Turkish convoy in Afghanistan, officials of Turkish Embassy in Kabul reported on Wednesday. The guard of Hakan Abaci, civil director of Turkish development team in Vardak, was wounded in the attack which took pace early in the morning.

#6: Canadian troops fought a battle just a few minutes drive from the edge of Kandahar city yesterday, as the insurgents once again pushed dangerously close to the provincial capital. The firefight did not kill or injure any Canadians or their allies, and it lasted only a few hours. Its location was significant, however, as the gunfire and air strikes tore across farmland only 12 kilometres west of the city limits, near the village of Makuan.

#7: Five Canadian soldiers were injured Tuesday when two light-armoured vehicles collided in southern Afghanistan. The soldiers were travelling between Ma'sum Ghar and Patrol Base Wilson, southwest of Kandahar city, when the accident happened around 3:30 p.m, said Lt. Chris Courtemanche, a military public affairs officer at the Kandahar Air Field. The soldiers' injuries are considered minor, and they were evacuated by helicopter to the multi-national hospital at the air field for treatment. They are expected to return to active duty with the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Canadian Regiment battle group.

#8: In Paktia province, an attack on a road construction crew left one person from the Philippines dead and three guards wounded, said Ghulam Dastager, the province's deputy police chief.

#9: In the southern Kandahar province, suspected Taliban militants ambushed two police officers riding a bicycle in Zhari district Tuesday, killing both, said Sayed Agha Saqib, the provincial police chief.

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1 comments:

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