A suicide car bomber killed one foreign soldier and wounded six other people, including three civilians, in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar on Saturday, the provincial governor said.
The Taliban have vowed to step up their campaign of suicide bombings this year, after carrying out 140 such attacks in 2007 which killed 200 civilians.
The suicide car bomber rammed his car into a moving military convoy in the city of Jalalabad before detonating explosives, Gol Agha Shirzai, governor of Nangarhar province, said.
One coalition soldier was killed and three wounded, he said.
Three civilians were also wounded in the attack.
The nationalities of the dead and wounded soldiers are not known but most stationed in Nangarhar are American.
The al Qaeda-backed Taliban largely rely on suicide attacks and roadside bomb blasts as part of their insurgency against the pro-Western Afghan government and the more than 60,000 foreign troops in the country.
In another incident, Mohammad Younus, the governor of Qalat District in Zabul Province, was shot dead with his bodyguard at his house on Friday night by unknown gunmen, provincial police chief, Jalal Mohammad Yaqub, told Reuters.
The Taliban have killed dozens of government officials to try to undermine the faith of Afghans in the ability of their government to provide security in the country.
On Saturday, a senior member of the National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) was kidnapped along with three companions by Taliban fighters in Wardak province, west of Kabul, a local government official said.
A spokesman for the Taliban, Zabihullah Mujahid, confirmed they were holding the four men.
The NRC was established by the government to persuade militants to lay down their arms and join peace efforts.
The Taliban have been tactically routed in southern Afghanistan, with enemy forces 'licking their wounds' after a series of emphatic defeats, say senior British military commanders.
In one of the most bullish assessments yet of the conflict in Helmand province, Brigadier Gordon Messenger said the Taliban's command structure had been 'fractured' and its fighters forced on to the backfoot.
As British forces continue to consolidate positions throughout the Helmand valley, Messenger said latest intelligence indicated that the ferocious fighting that had defined Helmand for the past two summers was unlikely to be repeated. 'It's become apparent that the Taliban are very much on the backfoot. Their leadership both south of the border [Pakistan] and also their local leadership has been severely dislocated and fractured.
'We are not complacent and suggesting that they do not have the capacity to regenerate, but they are very much off the frontfoot and licking their wounds.'
With the British military having sustained 97 casualties since operations began in Afghanistan in 2001, commanders are hopeful that a less costly campaign lies ahead. Estimates suggest that as many as 7,000 Taliban have been killed during the past two years. In addition, Messenger said that evidence of al-Qaeda or affiliated organised groups was scant in areas where British troops were operating.
Latest intelligence updates indicate that Taliban forces have retrenched in Farah, bordering northwest Helmand, the province where about 8,000 British troops are stationed.
Government officials revealed last week that they are monitoring the Iranian frontier - Farah is on the border - for evidence of weapons smuggling. Concern is mounting among Foreign Office officials that Iran might still be smuggling in components for roadside mines known as EFPs, which fire a fist-sized disc of armour-piercing molten copper that explodes inside military vehicles.
To try to disrupt the cross-border traffic, the focus is intensifying on Taliban elements near the Pakistan border, south of Garmsir. Recently a new expeditionary force of 3,500 US marines entered the region to target remote southern districts. The move was interpreted as placing British forces under pressure to adopt the American counter-insurgency tactics. However, Messenger said the tactic was proving fruitful and would help UK troops further north.
'They are disrupting areas where the Taliban have traditionally held sway', said Messenger, who led 40 Commando Royal Marines during the Iraq war and was recently appointed as an aide-de-camp to the Queen. He said that the 'ink spot' stratgey of securing major towns along the Helmand valley and then spreading stability appeared to be paying dividends.
One enduring area of concern is Helmand's massive heroin trade which links the Taliban with organised crime.
With the Taliban and their followers in effect beaten in conventional warfare, their increasing reliance on suicide attacks was underlined yesterday when a suicide car bomb reportedly killed one Nato soldier and injured six other people in eastern Afghanistan. A local governor said that a car rammed a military convoy in Jalalabad before the attacker detonated the explosives.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/01/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
I guess we'll have to settle for the "dreaded summer offensiveTM". Spring is over.
#2
I admire the Brits, really I do, but what do we take away from this? They can whip rural muzz ass, but put 'em in a town like Basra and they're at sea. Hard to figure...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
06/01/2008 4:15 Comments ||
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#3
Different training, different ROE -->different results.
Let's hope this report is more accurate than the overly sanguine summaries that came out of Basra before the Yanks (and the Iraqi Army) had to come in and straighten things out for the Brits there.
Meanwhile, Prince William is joining the Royal Navy while it still has a ship.
Let's get the Labour Party out, the Tories back, teach the Tories how to be less metrosexual (think Cameron), and maybe the US will have a real ally again.
Posted by: Peter Carroll ||
06/01/2008 13:16 Comments ||
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NATO officials in Afghanistan say four coalition soldiers have been wounded in a bomb blast targeting a military convoy in the eastern part of the country. NATO's International Security Assistance force says the attack took place Saturday in Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar province. Provincial officials, however, say an ISAF soldier was killed in an explosion triggered by a suicide car bomber. ISAF officials did not confirm the casualty.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/01/2008 00:00 ||
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Canadian and Afghan forces have completed a four-day assault on insurgent networks building and deploying improvised explosive devices in the Pashmul area west of Kandahar City. Roadside IEDs or suicide bombings have been behind more than half of the 83 Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan. The operation to disrupt the work of the roadside bombers - Operation Rawa Tunder (Pashto for Rolling Thunder) - saw the heaviest fighting so far this year by the Canadian battle group and Afghan security forces. The fighting was so intense at times that artillery and U.S. aerial bombing missions were called in.
"It was aimed at disrupting some of the cells that have been affecting some of the routes (used by Canadian convoys). It was a successful operation," said Lt.-Col. Shawn Lockhurst, chief of operations with Canada's Joint Task Force Afghanistan headquarters. "It keeps them off balance ... it keeps them guessing," he said. "They will remain off balance for the foreseeable future and have less co-ordination to conduct attacks."
Dozens of insurgents were killed in the fighting, but Lockhurst wouldn't say exactly how many nor would he comment on Afghan media that a local Taliban commander was killed in the fighting. "We don't measure successes by body counts, but should we happen to eliminate commanders ... that is a success," he said. No Canadians were injured and the only Afghan National Army casualty was a soldier who shot himself in the foot.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/01/2008 00:00 ||
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(Xinhua) -- Afghan security forces backed by foreign troops killed 16 Taliban militants in Jalai district of southern province Kandahar while Afghan police killed two insurgents in Dand district of the same province, an official said Saturday.
The combined force bombed Taliban hideouts in Jalai district Friday, killing 16 rebels including one commander named Mullah Torjan, Kandahar's police chif Sayed Aqa Saqib told Xinhua.
The day-long fighting came as the Afghan army, police and international forces were conducting a major anti-insurgent operation in Jalai and Panjwayi districts of Kandahar, he said.
On the same day, a police vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb in the district, leaving six policemen wounded, according to the police chief.
He added Afghan police during a fighting with Taliban militants on Friday in Dand, a district close to the provincial capital Kandahar city, killed two insurgents, Saqib added.
Insurgency-related bombing attacks and ambushes are on the rise across Afghanistan while Afghan and international troops have been conducting a series of search and clear-up operations against anti-government militants in the south, east and west regions. Over 30 people were killed in militants' bombing attacks during the past four days in the post-Taliban nation.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/01/2008 00:00 ||
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Insurgents fired mortars at a plane that was due to take Somalia's president to Djibouti, but he was unharmed and travelled to a meeting with a U.N. security council delegation, officials and residents said on Sunday. President Abdullahi Yusuf was due to meet the delegation in Djibouti, where his interim government and opposition exiles living in Eritrea are participating in U.N.-backed peace talks. He was not due to take part in the talks, which started a day late on Sunday.
"The president and delegates have left ... The Islamists failed to achieve their goal and the mortars did not damage the plane," presidential spokesman Hussein Mohamed Mohamud said.
An airport staff member told Reuters the mortars were aimed at a plane arriving to take Yusuf to the talks in Djibouti. "Around five mortars landed in the airport and people ran into the concrete building," the staff member said.
U.N. officials met the government and Islamist delegations separately, witnesses in Djibouti said.
#1
So they were shooting at the plane the president was going to board? Did anybody tell these losers not to shoot until the target is in sight?
What's next, siphoning empty gas tanks?
#1
MiG instructor who decided to go after a column of rebels, was shot down, and died when his parachute didn't open. Were I in the Sudanese government, I'd be concerned we'd just wasted an awful lot of limited funds to buy that brand new airforce from Russia. And that just after Syria's purchase failed so spectacularly, allowing Israel to bomb that nuclear facility to bouncing rubble.
#6
Nimble Spemble you have a point... I was just wondering... I thought, hmm... did I post a bad link.. no... well reread the story... still nothing.... maybe it's in code or something... hell I don't know....
#7
The article doesn't have anything to do with Debka. JosephM was pointing us to something he read there, so we can find it ourselves.
JosephM, given that we/Israel knew all about the first Syrian/North Korean nuclear facilities, if there's another we/Israel likely know about that, too. And it makes sense that given that Israel destroyed the first one, were there another they would have destroyed that/those on the same bombing run.
Russian Fighter Pilot Shot Down In Sudan
May 30, 2008: The death of a Russian fighter pilot in Sudan could not be kept secret, despite the best efforts of the Russian and Sudanese governments. The pilot was an instructor, stationed outside Khartoum, at an air base containing the dozen MiG-29 fighters Sudan bought four years ago. The Russian pilot took one of the MiG-29s into action on May 10th, when a convoy of nearly 200 trucks and jeeps approached the capital. The convoy contained 1,200 JEM rebels from Darfur. The heavily armed rebels were headed for the presidential palace when the MiG-29 attacked. But the rebels had some heavy (12.7mm and 14.5mm machine-guns) on some of those trucks, and the MiG-29 was hit and went down. The pilot ejected, but the chute didn't open and he died on impact.
The Sudanese government tried to keep the death, and loss of a Russian pilot, secret. At least one Sudanese radio station was shut down for broadcasting the "rumor." The story also got out in Russia, via the Internet and at least one independent radio station (the government controls all the network operations). The death of the pilot was known to his family and some of his Russian Air Force friends.
Maybe if they released a few more terrorists each week for good behavior it would help.
An al Qaeda-linked group claimed responsibility on Saturday for a mortar attack on a refinery in Yemen, which officials said did not cause any damage, according to an Internet statement. Three blasts were heard on Friday at the refinery in the southern port city of Aden, officials said. "Al Qaeda Organisation in the Arabian Peninsula -- Yemen Soldiers Brigades -- carried out the blessed operation with three mortar shells ... on the refinery used by Yemen's despot to supply fuel to the Crusaders (Western states) in their war against Islam," the group said on an Islamist website.
The group, which has vowed to win the freedom of jailed comrades, has claimed responsibility for several such attacks in recent months, including a shelling in March near the U.S. embassy which injured 13 schoolgirls and five Yemeni soldiers. The refinery attack coincided with a shooting spree by a lone gunman who killed at least seven people at a mosque in northern Yemen. Officials said that was the result of a feud over land in the impoverished Arab state where many ordinary citizens are armed.
And therefore probably didn't have anything at all to do with al-Qaeda and certainly didn't have anything to do with a mortar attack on an oil refinery.
Posted by: gorb ||
06/01/2008 01:05 ||
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Venezuelan troops killed a Colombian "subversive" in a border gun battle, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Saturday, an incident that could fuel new tensions between the two countries.
The South American neighbors have maintained a war of words in recent months, with Venezuela accusing Colombia of trying to spark war and sending troops into its territory.
Chavez said the Venezuelan army exchanged gunfire with armed "subversives" near the border, but did not offer details on where the incident took place or which group was involved.
"They fired at each other and one (member) of the subversive group died," Chavez said during a televised speech.
Marxist rebels and right-wing paramilitary gangs have for years roamed the isolated and loosely-patrolled border region.
Uribe's government has repeatedly accused Chavez of sheltering FARC guerrillas, charges the leftist Chavez dismisses as Washington-sponsored propaganda.
Colombia in March bombed a rebel camp in Ecuador, where leftist guerrillas often hide from Colombian forces, leading Chavez to break off diplomatic ties with Colombia and sparking the Andean region's worst crisis in a decade.
The conflict highlighted the growing rift between leftist leaders such as Chavez and Ecuador's Rafael Correa and Colombia's rightist, pro-Washington Uribe.
Chavez recently said he was carrying out a "profound review" of ties with Colombia and warned he could seek new trade partners to replace some of the $6 billion in bilateral commerce between the nations.
#1
seek new trade partners to replace some of the $6 billion in bilateral commerce between the nations.
Gonna redraw the border Hugolito? Cross border trade is huge with much of it being in scare commodities. Cooking oil, sugar, pasta(!), chicken, fresh beef.
Posted by: George Smiley ||
06/01/2008 7:51 Comments ||
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A resident of Britain held in the US military prison in Guantanamo Bay has been charged with terror offences, British legal charity Reprieve said on Saturday. The case of Ethiopian-born Binyam Mohamed, 29, from London, will now be referred to the US militarys Convening Authority, which has 30 days to decide whether to press ahead with the charges, the charity said.
Reprieve said Mohamed denies any wrongdoing, adding, Mr Mohamed is indeed being charged, but we are unable to supply further detailed information until the Pentagon officially produces the charge sheet of allegations against him.
"Lies! All lies! We, um, think ..."
Mohamed, who was detained in Pakistan in 2002, is the last remaining Guantanamo detainee with a right to return to Britain. Human rights lawyer and Reprieve director Clive Stafford Smith said, I visited Binyam in Guantanamo just a week ago, and he is in a very bad state.
Surely the least the British government can do is insist that no British resident be charged in a kangaroo court based on evidence tortured out of him with a razor blade.
Surely the least the British government can do is insist that no British resident be charged in a kangaroo court based on evidence tortured out of him with a razor blade. If Binyams trial by Military Commission proceeds, all it will produce is evidence not of terrorism, but of torture, which will embarrass both the British and the American governments.
Razor, huh? That means we ought to have some visible wounds on the boy. How 'bout some photos?
The Independent newspaper reported Friday that Mohamed had written to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to plead for help in securing his release because he fears he could face the death penalty if convicted of terror offences. Mohamed said he had considered suicide as a way of ending his ordeal.
Hell, we left you a razor ...
He wrote, I have been held without trial by the US for six years, one month and 12 days, adding, Still there is no end in sight, no prospect for a fair trial. Mohamed was born in Ethiopia in 1978 and came to Britain as an asylum seeker in 1994 aged 16. His lawyers say he developed a drug habit while living in London and travelled to Pakistan and Afghanistan in 2001 in a bid to resolve his personal problems.
You mean he wasn't a charity worker?
This article starring:
BINYAM MOHAMED
al-Qaeda
Prime Minister Gordon Brown
Reprieve director Clive Stafford Smith
Posted by: Fred ||
06/01/2008 00:00 ||
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A bomb exploded in a 4x4 vehicle owned by local Taliban in the Mamad Ghat area of the Mohmand Agency on Saturday, killing at least three Taliban and a bystander, and seriously injuring three more Taliban.
The four-wheel drive Surf was parked in a workshop amid a row of shops facing the Lakrai grid station. The local Taliban sealed off the area soon after the blast occurred.
Witnesses said that three Taliban, whose names were Hakeem Khan, Qasim and Sultan Zeb, and a bystander, Zeerak, were killed in the blast. The injured were taken to the Nawagai hospital in the Bajaur Agency. The political administration confirmed the blast had taken place, but said the toll was three dead and four injured.
This article starring:
HAKIM KHAN
Taliban
SULTAN ZEB
Taliban
Posted by: Fred ||
06/01/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
The ol' red wire/green wire thingy strikes again. Wotta shame.
/Bwahahahaha!
The elders asked the Taliban not to carry heavy weapons on government roads and not to threaten mobile phone shopkeepers unnecessarily.
Militants blew up a khasadar checkpost in a timed explosion at 10:45pm on Friday night in Miranshah, North Waziristan. No casualties were reported. The checkpost is located near the Government Degree College for Boys. Sources said this was the first incident after the government and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan signed a peace agreement which had not yet been made public. In Ghalanai, Mohmand Agency, the local Taliban leadership and Mohmand tribal elders held a jirga at Ghaiba Khwar near the Mian Mandi trade centre. The elders asked the Taliban not to carry heavy weapons on government roads and elsewhere and not to threaten mobile phone shopkeepers unnecessarily. The local Taliban leadership warned they would take action against narcotics dealers and those involved in other crimes.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/01/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Taliban leadership warned they would take action against narcotics dealers
Armed men from Ansarul Islam (AI) led by Maulana Mehboob kidnapped eight members of the tribal militia Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) including a senior commander on Saturday, sources close to AI said. LI senior commander Ghuncha Gul from Bazaar Zakha Khel in the Tirrah Valley and seven armed men have been moved to an AI base in Tirrah Valleys Bagh area, sources said. The sources said AI might had kidnapped the eight to avenge the killing of its leader Maulana Mastamin, who died in LI custody in Gogrina Bazaar Zakha Khel a few days ago. However, the LI denied the men had been kidnapped, terming the report a rumour. Guls nephew also refuted the report. Intelligences sources told Daily Times, however, that Gul and his seven gunmen had been kidnapped from the Qamar Khel Dwa Toi area in Tirrah.
This article starring:
GHUNCHA GUL
Lashkar-e-Islam
MAULANA MASTAMIN
Lashkar-e-Islam
MAULANA MEHBUB
Ansarul Islam
Posted by: Fred ||
06/01/2008 00:00 ||
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Two people from the Toori tribe in Zeeran, Upper Kurram, were killed in Peshu Khawr, Kurram Agency, late on Friday. Local sources told Daily Times that the killings were in retaliation to the killing of four people on Thursday in Zeeran. The four were abducted while travelling to Sadda and were later shot.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/01/2008 00:00 ||
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Analysis piece in the Guardian about the death of number 3 Abu Suleiman al-Jazair, and what it means to al-Qaeda, with the usual spin and hang-wringing.
An al-Qaeda trainer and explosives specialist involved in a range of European terrorist networks has been killed in Pakistan, the latest senior militant to die in a spate of controversial American missile strikes.
The death two weeks ago of Abu Suleiman al-Jazairi, a highly experienced Algerian militant, has been confirmed only in the last few days, intelligence sources in Pakistan and Western Europe told The Observer.
Al-Jazairi, thought to have been 45, died along with at least 15 others when the house in which he was staying in Pakistan's Bajaur tribal district was hit by a missile fired from a Predator.
Al-Jazairi, thought to have been 45, died along with at least 15 others when the house in which he was staying in Pakistan's Bajaur tribal district was hit by a missile fired from a Predator, an American pilotless drone.
Details are only now emerging about the strike on Damadola, a village near the Afghan-Pakistan border hit twice in the past. The house targeted and destroyed by the drone is believed to belong to a former Afghan Taliban defence minister, Maulvi Obaidullah, members of whose family, including women and children, are thought to have died. The surrounding area is in the hands of militants linked to the Pakistan Taliban militant group who have been blamed for the killing of Benazir Bhutto last year.
The death of al-Jazairi, thought to have been director of external operations for al-Qaeda and thus responsible for running the terrorist group's European and British networks, was cited by CIA chief Michael Hayden last week as one of the reasons for the 'strategic defeat' of al-Qaeda. Another top militant, Abu Laith al-Libi, was killed in February. 'The ability to kill and capture key members of al-Qaeda continues, and keeps them off balance - even in their best safe haven along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border,' Hayden said. Hayden added that al-Qaeda had been defeated in Saudi Arabia, was losing the battle for hearts and minds in the Islamic world and was now unable to exploit the Iraq war to draw in new recruits.
However, the CIA chief's upbeat assessment contrasts with collective thinking in the intelligence community in America and elsewhere. Senior counter-terrorist officials in Europe, the Middle East and South Asia in recent weeks revealed profound concern about the potential use of weapons of mass destruction by militants and the continued attraction of the al-Qaeda ideology for second or third generation immigrants and converts in the West. Britain, with its close links to Pakistan, is in a particularly vulnerable position. 'It is certain that mainstream hardcore al-Qaeda have suffered considerable setbacks - in Iraq certainly and elsewhere - but I think generally there is a lot more caution,' said Nigel Inkster, recently retired deputy head of MI6. 'It would only take a couple of attacks for the positive perception to radically change.'
Bruce Hoffman, terrorism expert at Georgetown University, said Hayden's comments needed to be seen in the context of American domestic politics. 'In an election year with a two term administration that is very sensitive to its historical record this is not unexpected,' he told The Observer. 'Al-Qaeda may not have had a successful attack in three years but it is too early to declare victory.' Hoffman said that the danger this year was in fact high. 'People do not join a terrorist group to sit on their hands and if [al-Qaeda] are going to retain their relevance it is now or never.'
Yet senior figures within American intelligence have also been struck by the failure of al-Qaeda to mobilise broad support in the Islamic world, and have begun to think more optimistically about the future. Security services have closely followed disputes and defections in recent months. Vicious feuding has led some analysts to conclude that the Islamic militant movement is turning in on itself with al-Qaeda leaders Bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri increasingly isolated. Postings by al-Zawahiri in a question and answer session on the internet a month ago had a defensive tone, seeking to justify civilian casualties in militant attacks. The strategy is seen as a failure by many militants outside al-Qaeda and by some within the group.
This article starring:
Abu Laith al-Libi
al-Qaeda
Abu Suleiman al-Jazairi
al-Qaeda
a spate of controversial American missile strikes
Bruce Hoffman
Maulvi Obaidullah
Taliban
Michael Hayden
Nigel Inkster
Posted by: Fred ||
06/01/2008 00:00 ||
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Did they find his time sheet in the belongings of the SG financier caught yesterday? Who's next?
BAGHDAD Iraqi Special Operations Forces captured a suspected Special Groups criminal in Baghdad May 31.
The ISOF conducted an operation to capture an individual suspected of multiple indirect-fire attacks on a Coalition force base in Abu Tshir, and of displacing Iraqi families from their homes. He also reportedly acts as a sniper for his group.
So he's not going to feel so well in a short while ...
One additional suspect was detained.
Iraqi Special Operations Forces are committed to preventing Special Groups criminals from terrorizing Iraqi citizens, and to reducing attacks against Coalition forces, said Col. Bill Buckner, MNC-I spokesman.
{I can't seem to make links work, broke string to keep from breaking format -
http://www.mnf-iraq.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=20018&Itemid=21
Four Special Groups members captured in Kadhamiyah
BAGHDAD Coalition forces captured four suspected Special Groups members in an operation in the Kadhamiyah district of Baghdad Sunday.
Intelligence sources led Coalition forces to the presumed residence of an individual suspected of smuggling Iranian weapons and coordinating Special Groups training in Iran. The individual is also suspected of training others in sniper tactics and acting as a key conduit between Special Groups leaders in the western Baghdad area.
Coalition forces detained the targeted individual and three other persons without incident.
COP TIMBERWOLF Its a trend seen more and more frequently around al-Anbar province; Marines packing up their gear and returning their positions to the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) so they can continue providing protection and security to the Iraqi citizens.
Combat Outpost Timberwolf, near Baghdadi, is one of the latest to continue that trend of transitioning from Coalition force control to Iraqi Army (IA) control.
COP Timberwolf began the transition process earlier this year when Marines assigned to Headquarters Company, Regimental Combat Team 5 relieved Marines from 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, RCT-5 earlier this year so the battalion could focus on other missions.
In preparation for leaving the outpost and the IA taking over, the Marines have been demilitarizing the area, and the IA has been putting their own safety measures into practice.
Since the (Iraqi Army) got here, they have been doing a lot of construction, said Sgt. Cullen M. Fair, 22, a tactical data network operator assigned to the Provisional Rifle Platoon, RCT-5 that is leaving COP Timberwolf. Theyre making this place their home.
As soon as the bridge (near Baghdadi) was built, the Iraqi Army started using it to drop off supplies here, said Fair, who is from Olathe, Kan.
The newly built bridge creates a shorter route for the IA to travel to reach destinations across the Euphrates River.
The bridge has helped us a lot to get supplies here, said IA Maj. Munir Abdul Aziz Al-Salehy, commanding officer, 7th Iraqi Army Division, 22nd Iraqi Army Brigade, Group Three, Squad Two.
The area surrounding COP Timberwolf has seen improved security thanks to previous units stationed there.
When we first got to (the area near Baghdadi) before the Marines, it was not safe, and we didnt have enough Soldiers or equipment to get the area safe, said Al-Salehy. Now that the Marines have gotten everything under control, it is now our turn to keep this place safe. Thanks to the Marines and God, I can say the area is very safe now.
The Marines here have been training the IA on patrolling procedures, guard duty and security measures so that the Marines could successfully turn the outpost over to the capable IA Soldiers.
We started with mini-steps and have gradually taken on more responsibilities here, said Al-Salehy. We can take over now, and every one of my Soldiers will know his duty and job now.
BAGHDAD Iraqi Army Soldiers and Iraqi National Policemen, conducting operations in the Sadr City district of Baghdad, discovered weapons caches May 31. National Policemen from 34th Brigade, 1st National Police Division, discovered an explosively formed projectile at approximately 8 a.m. No evidence of concrete Iranian weapons.
At approximately 9 a.m., Iraqi Army Soldiers with the 3rd Brigade, 1st IA Division, seized one EFP, two PKC light machine guns and one rocket-propelled grenade launcher.
In separate events, at approximately 9 a.m., Soldiers with the 34th Brigade, 9th IA Division, seized a number EFPs, RPGs and rifles. Iraqi Soldiers also with the 34th BDE, 9th IA Div., discovered a weapons cache at approximately 10 a.m. The cache consisted of 17 AK-47 assault rifles, one RPK machine gun, three rifles, one anti-tank mine, two 155 mm rounds and two small machine guns.
At approximately 11 a.m., Iraqi Soldiers from 34th BDE, 9th IA Div., seized another weapons cache consisting of six 81 mm and 82 mm mortar tubes, and more than 100 81 mm and 82 mm mortar rounds. We have no heavy weapons, nope, never have had any. We use those to celebrate weddings.
The Iraqi Security Forces remain diligent in tracking down illegal weapons and removing them from the hands of those who would harm the Iraq people, said Col. Allen Batschelet, chief of staff, Multi-National Division Baghdad and the 4th Infantry Division.
A car bomb exploded near the Iranian embassy in Baghdad during Sunday morning rush hour, killing at least two civilians and wounding five, police said.
The blast was in a parking lot across the street from the embassy, a police official said. He said the two killed were civilians and the wounded included three embassy guards.
Elsewhere in the capital, a senior police official was wounded when a bomb that was stuck to his car exploded in a busy intersection. A traffic officer was killed and four other people were wounded in the attack, another police official said.
Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release the information.
The violence underscored military warnings that insurgents remain a dangerous threat despite recent security gains that have pushed the number of Iraqi civilian casualties to their lowest levels in more than four years.
In another development, a U.S. helicopter crashed Sunday south of Baghdad, wounding the two American soldiers who were aboard, the military said.
Preliminary indications point to mechanical failure as the cause of the crash, but an investigation will be conducted to determine what happened, the military said.
The U.S. military, meanwhile, continued targeting Shiite militia fighters it says are members of Iranian-backed "special groups" that are defying a cease-fire order by anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
It has warned key leaders have fled to other areas as American and Iraqi forces closed in on them during operations in their main Baghdad stronghold of Sadr City.
American troops acting on tips captured four suspected "special groups members" without violent resistance Sunday in the Shiite district of Kazimiyah in northern Baghdad, the military said.
Those detained included a suspect accused of smuggling Iranian weapons, coordinating training of Iraqi militants in Iran, training others in sniper tactics and acting as a key mediator between militia leaders in western Baghdad, according to the military statement.
Ten al-Qaida linked insurgents also were captured in U.S.-led operations in Mosul and north of Baghdad on Sunday, the military said.
A U.S. helicopter crashed south of Baghdad on Sunday, injuring two soldiers, the U.S. military said.
"Preliminary indications point to a mechanical failure as the cause of the crash, but an investigation will be conducted to determine what happened," the military said in a statement.
It did not say whether anyone else was on board or identify what type of helicopter was involved in the crash.
The U.S. military in Iraq mostly uses Apache attack helicopters and Black Hawks, which are usually deployed to transport soldiers round the country.
At least 67 U.S. helicopters have crashed in Iraq since the U.S.-led March 2003 invasion, 36 of them due to enemy fire, according to the Brookings Institution's Iraq Index.
(Xinhua) -- Nine policemen were killed and seven others wounded when a suicide bomber struck their checkpoint in western Iraq on Saturday night, a local police source said.
A suicide bomber blew up his explosive vest at about 9 p.m. (1800 GMT) at the checkpoint in the town of Hit, some 160 km west of Baghdad, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. "Our first reports said that at least nine policemen were killed and seven others wounded," the source said, referring to the possibility that the number of casualties could rise.
Iraqi security forces immediately sealed off the area for fear of further attacks from apparently remnants of Qaida militants, who have been driven off the Anbar province where the town located, he said.
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06/01/2008 00:00 ||
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(VOI) Three civilians were killed and seven others wounded when an improvised explosive device (IED) went off near a passenger mini-bus in central Baaquba on Saturday, police said. "An IED blast targeted a mini-bus near a terminal in central Baaquba, leaving three civilian passengers killed and seven others wounded," a source from Diala police, who asked not to have his name revealed, told Aswat al-Iraq Voices of Iraq (VOI).
Posted by: Fred ||
06/01/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Had to have been the Jooooooooooooos. msulims don't kill other muslims.
(VOI) Policemen captured 12 men wanted by Iraqi security authorities in eastern Baghdad on Saturday, the Baghdad operations command said. "A force from the national police's 8th Brigade arrested 12 men wanted by security authorities during raid operations conducted on Falastine street, eastern Baghdad, before noon on Saturday," Maj. General Qassem Atta, the official spokesman for the Fardh al-Qanoon (law imposing) security plan, told Aswat al-Iraq Voices of Iraq (VOI). Iraqi security forces, backed by Multi-National Force (MNF) troops, had launched Operation Fardh al-Qanoon in February 2007 with the aim of enhancing the state power and impose law and order all over the capital Baghdad.
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(VOI) Three gunmen responsible for kidnapping a number of female college students in Diala were arrested by security authorities in the province, according to the Iraqi interior ministry on Saturday. "A Diala Emergency Contingent force captured terrorists who kidnapped several female college students on the Baladruz highway during a security operation in al-Mualimeen neighborhood," read an interior ministry press release as received by Aswat al-Iraq Voices of Iraq (VOI). "The three terrorists are Turki Annad al-Dayni, Muhammad Turki al-Dayni and Majid Turki al-Dayni," the source said, not giving more details.
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Israel freed a convicted Hezbollah spy on Sunday and the militant group announced moments later that it was turning over the remains of Israeli soldiers killed in the 2006 war in Lebanon.
The swap could be the preliminary stage of a prisoner exchange between the bitter enemies.
Israeli authorities released Nasim Nisr early Sunday after he completed a six-year sentence for espionage, driving him from a prison in central Israel to the northern Rosh Hanikra crossing to Lebanon. Cameramen surrounded the white van Nisr was sitting in as a blue gate swung open to allow him through the frontier.
A Hezbollah official said the militant group handed over a box containing what it said were the remains of Israeli soldiers killed in the monthlong war in Lebanon.
An Israeli security official confirmed that the remains were being transferred to Israel. Hezbollah had agreed to turn over the remains as a "gesture" and the move was not coordinated with Israel, he said.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity surrounding the ongoing negotiations.
Helge Kvam, a Red Cross spokesman in Jerusalem, called Hezbollah's move a "complete surprise."
After being freed, Nisr was "nervous but happy," said his lawyer, Smadar Ben-Natan.
"I certainly hope that this heralds a prisoner swap deal in the near future," said Ben-Natan, who represents two of the Lebanese prisoners still held by Israel.
Hezbollah fearless leader Hassan Nasrallah predicted last month that Israel would release prisoners it is holding "very soon," setting off speculation that a major swap was in the works.
Israel is believed to be holding seven Lebanese prisoners, while Hezbollah has been holding two Israeli soldiers it captured in a 2006 cross-border raid that sparked the 2006 war. The soldiers are believed to have been badly wounded, and Hezbollah has offered no proof that they are still alive.
Nisr, 39, was born in Lebanon to a Jewish Lebanese mother and a Shiite Muslim father. He later moved to Israel and became a citizen. He has a 10-year-old son from his first wife and two daughters, aged 10 and 7, from his current wife.
(Xinhua) -- Two civilians were killed and nine others injured in a hand grenade explosion in the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo Saturday night, defense officials said. Military spokesman Udaya Nanayakkara said the hand grenade explosion occurred around 9 p.m. (1530 GMT) in a densely populated area along the major Galle road. Nanayakkara said 11 civilians were injured in the explosion and two of them succumbed to their injures later in the hospital.
The spokesman said the government can not decide who is behind the attack at the moment, although the government usually attributes such kind of attack to the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
The explosion came as the Ministry of Defense said on Saturday that at least 26 LTTE rebels were killed and 23 wounded during the fighting in the northern battle fronts on Friday. The ministry said in a statement that four soldiers were also killed and 13 others wounded on Friday in the battles. Having taken over control of the Eastern Province last July, Sri Lanka's security forces are currently battle LTTE rebels in the north with the aim of crushing them before the end of 2008.
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BEIRUT: The United States supplied over 1,356,000 rounds of ammunition of various calibers to the Lebanese Army last week, a US Embassy statement said on Friday. The delivery, totaling over 376 tons, is part of the multi-year US Security Assistance program to Lebanon, the statement added. The assistance program includes modern weapons, vehicles, communications, and advanced training. The statement pledged that "US assistance to the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) is continuous and robust."
The Leb Army nailed the Paleos at Nahr al-Bared but wouldn't fight the Hezbies. So they're one for two. Okay, give 'em some ammo ...
According to the statement, five days after the 2007 Nahr al-Bared battle began, the US delivered over 10 million rounds of all types of ammunition. The United States has delivered a total of over 12 million rounds to the LAF. "In response to the LAF's request to improve its transport capability, the United States has delivered 285 all terrain vehicles [humvees] to the LAF since 2006, and 300 more will arrive over the next year," the statement added. The LAF has also received 200 cargo transport trucks. In addition, the US has provided repair parts for all vehicles and critical repair parts for the LAF's helicopters.
The statement added that US assistance to the LAF has also supplied the same front-line weapons that the US military troops are currently using, including assault rifles, automatic grenade launchers, advanced sniper weapon systems, anti-tank weapons, and the most modern urban warfare bunker weapons. Also included in the ongoing US support to the LAF is an advanced mobile communication system to secure Lebanon's borders. Coastal patrol craft will also be delivered to the Lebanese Navy and Air Force helicopters will be refurbished, according to the embassy statement.
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06/01/2008 00:00 ||
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SIDON, Lebanon, - Lebanese soldiers shot dead a man carrying a hand grenade outside the Palestinian refugee camp of Ein el-Helweh on Saturday, an army spokesman said. "The man was carrying a hand grenade and we are also investigating whether the belt he was wearing contained an explosives charge," the spokesman said, refusing to provide any further details.
The man's body was still at the scene and soldiers prevented journalists and photographers from approaching it, the spokesman said. Security forces told an AFP correspondent at the scene that they would carry out a controlled explosion involving the body.
Eyewitnesses said the man was shot close to an army checkpoint in the Taameer Ein el-Hellhole Ein el-Helweh zone, which is controlled by the military, except for a southern part which is considered a bastion of the Islamist group Jund Al-Sham.
Who haven't yet been wiped out because ...
It was not immediately clear where the man had come from.
"Where's he from, Sarge?"
"I dunno, Muldoon, somewhere around here, I suppose."
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/01/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Sounds like the Leb army is putting the bullets we gave them to good use.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
A suicide car bomber killed one foreign soldier and wounded six other people, including three civilians, in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar on Saturday, the provincial governor said.
The Taliban have been tactically routed in southern Afghanistan, with enemy forces 'licking their wounds' after a series of emphatic defeats, say senior British military commanders. 
Canadian and Afghan forces have completed a four-day assault on insurgent networks building and deploying improvised explosive devices in the Pashmul area west of Kandahar City. Roadside IEDs or suicide bombings have been behind more than half of the 83 Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan. The operation to disrupt the work of the roadside bombers - Operation Rawa Tunder (Pashto for Rolling Thunder) - saw the heaviest fighting so far this year by the Canadian battle group and Afghan security forces. The fighting was so intense at times that artillery and U.S. aerial bombing missions were called in.
(Xinhua) -- Afghan security forces backed by foreign troops killed 16 Taliban militants in Jalai district of southern province Kandahar while Afghan police killed two insurgents in Dand district of the same province, an official said Saturday. 
Insurgents fired mortars at a plane that was due to take Somalia's president to Djibouti, but he was unharmed and travelled to a meeting with a U.N. security council delegation, officials and residents said on Sunday. President Abdullahi Yusuf was due to meet the delegation in Djibouti, where his interim government and opposition exiles living in Eritrea are participating in U.N.-backed peace talks. He was not due to take part in the talks, which started a day late on Sunday.
Venezuelan troops killed a Colombian "subversive" in a border gun battle, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Saturday, an incident that could fuel new tensions between the two countries.
A resident of Britain held in the US military prison in Guantanamo Bay has been charged with terror offences, British legal charity Reprieve said on Saturday. The case of Ethiopian-born 
COP TIMBERWOLF Its a trend seen more and more frequently around al-Anbar province; Marines packing up their gear and returning their positions to the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) so they can continue providing protection and security to the Iraqi citizens.
BAGHDAD Iraqi Army Soldiers and Iraqi National Policemen, conducting operations in the Sadr City district of Baghdad, discovered weapons caches May 31. National Policemen from 34th Brigade, 1st National Police Division, discovered an explosively formed projectile at approximately 8 a.m. 
A car bomb exploded near the Iranian embassy in Baghdad during Sunday morning rush hour, killing at least two civilians and wounding five, police said. 
A U.S. helicopter crashed south of Baghdad on Sunday, injuring two soldiers, the U.S. military said.
(Xinhua) -- Nine policemen were killed and seven others wounded when a suicide bomber struck their checkpoint in western Iraq on Saturday night, a local police source said. 
Israel freed a convicted Hezbollah spy on Sunday and the militant group announced moments later that it was turning over the remains of Israeli soldiers killed in the 2006 war in Lebanon. 
(Xinhua) -- Two civilians were killed and nine others injured in a hand grenade explosion in the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo Saturday night, defense officials said. Military spokesman Udaya Nanayakkara said the hand grenade explosion occurred around 9 p.m. (1530 GMT) in a densely populated area along the major Galle road. Nanayakkara said 11 civilians were injured in the explosion and two of them succumbed to their injures later in the hospital. 
BEIRUT: The United States supplied over 1,356,000 rounds of ammunition of various calibers to the Lebanese Army last week, a US Embassy statement said on Friday. The delivery, totaling over 376 tons, is part of the multi-year US Security Assistance program to Lebanon, the statement added. The assistance program includes modern weapons, vehicles, communications, and advanced training. The statement pledged that "US assistance to the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) is continuous and robust." 
SIDON, Lebanon, - Lebanese soldiers shot dead a man carrying a hand grenade outside the Palestinian refugee camp of Ein el-Helweh on Saturday, an army spokesman said. "The man was carrying a hand grenade and we are also investigating whether the belt he was wearing contained an explosives charge," the spokesman said, refusing to provide any further details.
