War News for Monday, January 24, 2011

NATO is reporting the deaths of two ISAF soldiers from a roadside bombing in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, January 22nd. News reports that a Polish soldier and a Polish civilian medic died in Ghazni province.


Over 25 Pakistani prisoners in US custody in Afghanistan

Afghan Report Revives Concerns About Scrutiny of Private Security Firms


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1-2: Also Monday, police said two bombs in Baghdad killed an Iraqi Army intelligence officer and his driver and wounded eight bystanders in separate strikes that hit a Shiite and a Sunni neighborhood. Hospital officials in Baghdad confirmed the fatalities.

#1: A roadside bomb went off near the house of a brigadier general working for the cabinet, killing him and wounding an intelligence officer in the Ghazaliya district of western Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.

#2: A roadside bomb exploded near a petrol station and wounded eight people in Baghdads northwestern Shula district, an Interior Ministry source said.


Karbala:
#1-2: Two car bombs struck Shiite pilgrims Monday in an Iraqi holy city, killing at least 18 people as crowds massed for religious rituals marking the end of a 40-day mourning period for the Islamic sect's most beloved saint.

#1: The first attack occurred about 7 a.m. in a parking lot near busloads of pilgrims on the eastern outskirts of Karbala, 55 miles (90 kilometers) south of Baghdad. Police and hospital officials said that six pilgrims were killed and 34 people wounded in that attack. A second bomb was discovered nearby and dismantled before it could explode, police said.

#2: More than four hours later, a second car bomb struck pilgrims on the southern edge of the city, killing at least 12 people, including 10 pilgrims and two soldiers, and wounding 21, the officials said.


Tikrit:
#1: A roadside bomb exploded near Tikrit as Salahuddin provincial Gov. Ahmed Abdullah al-Jubouri's motorcade was driving by, wounding five of his bodyguards, said police spokesman Col. Hatam Akram. The governor was not hurt in the blast near Saddam Hussein's hometown, some 80 miles (130 kilometers) north of Baghdad.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A police chief (Ali Shah Paktiawal) in the eastern province of Nangarhar said Mullah Anwar, a Taliban commander, and 12 of his fighters were killed in the Khogyani district on January 23. He said Anwar had been behind numerous attacks against Afghan and coalition forces.

#2: A series of unmanned U.S. drone strikes in a lawless district of Pakistan on Sunday killed at least 13 militants, officials said, as tribesmen took to the streets to protest the aerial campaign. The first two attacks took place in Datta Khel, some 40 kilometres west of North Waziristan's main town of Miranshah. The third was in Mando Khel, around 60 kilometres south of the town.

#3: Six Taliban militants were killed as Afghan and NATO-led forces conducted a search and cleanup operation in northern Lashkar Gah capital of Taliban hub Helmand province on Monday, an official said. "A combined unit of special operation force raided Taliban hideouts some 15 km north of Lashkar Gah in the wee hours of Monday as a result six militants were killed,"spokesman of provincial administration Daud Ahmadi told Xinhua. He also said that the joint forces also captured four injured militants during the operation in the province, 555 km south of Afghan capital Kabul.

#4: US forces shoot two Afghan workers of a stone mine in Logar province , local officials said. The incident happened yesterday afternoon in Babos area in the central Logar province and one other worker was wounded in the incident, Din Mohammad Darwish a spokesman for governor of Logar said. The dead bodies have been taken away by US forces, he added. US forces have yet to comment about the incident.


News: Private First Class Marcin Pastusiak

News: civilian medic Marcin Knap