War News for Friday, March 04, 2011

Iraq's Baiji refinery back to normal: oil ministry

Iraq authorities limit movement as protests mount

Marines await Taliban move in deadly Afghan valley


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1-2: Five people were wounded in blasts from two improvised explosive devices in two different areas of Baghdad on Thursday, a local security source said.

#1: “An IED went off near an Iraqi army patrol over Afaq bridge in Tunis neighborhood, northern Baghdad, leaving two soldiers wounded and severely damaging a patrol vehicle,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: “Another IED blast targeted a police patrol at al-Khotout intersection, on al-Maghreb street in Baghdad, leaving two patrolmen and one civilian man wounded,” he said, adding they were all rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment.


Diyala Prv:
#1: A chieftain survived on Friday an assassination attempt when an explosive charge went off targeting his house in northeast of Baaquba, a security source said. “An explosive charge went off on Friday (March 4) near the house of Sheikh Haitham al-Houm, chief of al-Nada tribes, in al-Nada region in Mendli, Khanaqin, southeast of Baaquba, without leaving casualties,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “Explosives experts managed to defuse two more bombs near the house,” he added.

#2: A former army deputy officer was killed in an armed attack by gunmen, northern Baaquba.


Kirkuk:
#1: Two bodies were found on Friday in south of Kirkuk province, according to a security source. “Policemen found on Friday morning (March 4) two bodies in al-Aaskari neighborhood near Saylo Touz, south of Kirkuk,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The two bodies, one belongs to a Peshmerga element and the other belongs to a civilian, show signs of gunshot wounds,” he added, without giving more details.


Mosul:
#1: Unidentified gunmen shot dead the son of a tribal chief in an armed attack on his house west of Mosul city on Thursday, a local security source in Ninewa said. “Unknown gunmen raided the house of Ali al-Jabban, the son of the al-Jabban clan in Talafar district, (60 km) west of Mosul, and shot him down,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A bomb exploded in a mosque in the northwestern Pakistani town of Nowshera on Friday, killing at least nine people and wounding over 30, police and hospital officials said. The blast took place when food was being distributed to the poor after midday Friday prayers. "Many people had left the mosque after prayers. Otherwise losses would have been higher," said Adil Khan, a Nowshera police official.

#2: Three NATO oil tankers were destroyed in an explosion at the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan in Khyber agency. The blast occurred after one of the oil tankers parked near a road in the Torkham area of Landi Kotal caught fire. The other two tankers also caught fire from the first tanker. No casualties were reported.

#3: Yesterday, a Nato tanker was attacked in Peshawar’s Taj market causing damage to nearby shops and buildings.

#4: Afghan and NATO forces during search operation eliminated four militants in Afghanistan's Khost province, some 150 km southeast of capital city Kabul, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in a statement on Friday. "Afghan and coalition forces killed Usman Ghani, a Haqqani network facilitator, detained 10 suspected insurgents and killed three Afghan males, who threatened the security force during an operation targeting Haqqani network leaders in Nadir Shah Kot district, Khost province, yesterday," said the statement.

#5: Two rounds of what is believed to be rocket-propelled grenades fell near the base for South Korean aid workers in Afghanistan Friday, but there were no casualties, a foreign ministry official said. The explosions were heard around 1:44 a.m. Friday (Korean time) from the base in the northern Afghan city of Charika, and the suspected RPG rounds are believed to have landed outside the facility, the ministry said.


DoD: Senior Airman Nicholas J. Alden