War News for Thursday, September 08, 2011

The French MoD is reporting the death of a French ISAF soldier in engagements with insurgents in Kapisa province, Afghanistan on Wednesday, September 7th. At least five additional soldiers were wounded in the attacks along with a journalist. Here's the ISAF release.

NATO is reporting the deaths of two ISAF soldiers from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, September 8th.


Iraq- Anbar province demands exploiting Khasfa Gas and Oil field


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: A bomb exploded in a shop selling watches, killing one person and wounding seven others, in Baghdad's northern Adhamiya district, hospital and police sources said.

#2: Two Katyusha rockets launched from the Shula district of northwestern Baghdad landed in the capital's heavily fortified Green Zone, home to the U.S. embassy and Iraqi government offices, an Interior Minister source said. No casualties were reported.


Diyala Prv:
#1: Security sources in Diala province announce a leading figure in the pro-government Al-Sahwa (Awakening) forces was killed and another wounded in bomb blast east of Baaquba city. The source told Aswat al-iraq that the bomb was directed against Sheikh Jassim al-Jubori which led to his killing and wounding one of his bodyguards.


Diwaniya:
#1: Gunmen using silenced weapons shot and wounded the local governor's financial adviser and a tribal chief who was with him late on Tuesday in central Diwaniya, 150 km (95 miles) south of Baghdad, police said. The adviser later died of his wounds.


Daquq:
#1: A roadside bomb exploded, wounding two civilians, in the town of Daquq, 200 km (125 miles) north of Baghdad, a Kirkuk police source said.


Shirqat:
#1: Gunmen with silenced weapons killed two local Awakening Council group members when attacking their checkpoint in the al-Sherqat area some 110 km north of Tikrit, the capital city of Salahudin province, a source from Salahudin police told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.


Kirkuk:
#1: Police found the body of a man in his 40s with stab wounds in southern Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, a Kirkuk police source said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Four soldiers with the Afghan National Army (ANA) were killed when their vehicle ran over a roadside bomb in Khost province 150 km southeast of capital city of Kabul, an official said on Thursday. "A unite of ANA personnel was on routine patrol in Nadir Shah Kot district but their vehicle touched off a roadside bomb terregering a blast killing four soldiers and injuring another on the board late on Wednesday," administrative chief of Nadir Shak Kot told Xinhua.

#2: A senior police officer was shot and killed by armed militants in Afghanistan's Nangarhar province with Jalalabad as its capital 120 km east of capital city of Kabul, an official said on Thursday. "Unknown armed men broke in the house of a high-ranking police officer named Sayed Hakim spreading bullets and killing him on the shot in Bati Kot district on Wednesday night," administrative chief of Bati Kot district Esrarullah Qari Zada told Xinhua on Thursday morning. He said the police official Hakim, who was serving as head of intelligence department of police in neighboring Pachir Wa Agam district, was visiting his family in Bati Kot district when the militants attacked his house and killed him.

#3: A total of six soldiers and officers with the Afghan National Army (ANA) have been killed and nine others injured in Taliban-led attacks and roadside bombings in the country over the past 24 hours, said a statement issued by Afghan Defense Ministry on Wednesday.”During routine patrols, six personnel of ANA had killed and nine others injured as a result of enemies’ fire and mine explosions in Kandahar, Badghis and Logar provinces over the past 24 hours,” the statement said.

#4: According to the statement, Afghan army, backed by NATO-led forces, during joint cleanup and military operations, have eliminated four insurgents and detained 31 more suspected terrorists in Wadak, Kandahar, Nangarhar, Kunduz, Faryab and Helmand provinces in the same timetable.

#5: An Australian soldier has been wounded by an insurgent improvised explosive device (IED) in Afghanistan. Defence said the incident occurred on Tuesday afternoon Afghanistan time as the soldier, a member of the Mentoring Task Force (MTF-3), was travelling in a Bushmaster armoured vehicle which struck the IED.

#6: Afghan insurgents last month launched a mortar attack just yards away from where U.S. Sen. Scott Brown was watching a street hockey game with his fellow soldiers at a base near Kandahar. “Everyone was just relaxing,” Brown told the Herald yesterday. “All of a sudden, ‘Boom.’ And then the sirens go off. And then, ‘Boom. Boom. Boom.’ It was mortars going off. Everyone just hit the deck and went into the bunkers.” Brown said he took cover along with the rest of the troops in the area. The mortars struck an airfield about “500 meters” from a boardwalk-type area where he was hanging out with other soldiers, he said.

#7: Militants fired 12 rockets and missiles on Manro Jangal village in Mamond tehsil from Kunar province in Afghanistan on Wednesday, tribal and official sources said. However, no casualty was reported in the attack. The security forces and tribal lashkar retaliated and targetted the suspected positions of the militants. However, the militants fled after the forces repulsed the attack and targetted their positions.

#8: An estimated 20 helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft belonging to both NATO and Afghan forces have either crashed or been forced to make emergency landings in the last six months.


DoD: James W. Coker