Serving Our Troops - 2012 - St.Paul to Kuwait - videos

Serving Our Troops is embarking on their 9th project and largest since 2004, "Saint Paul to Kuwait," is happening now, February 25th, 2012, in both Kuwait and St. Paul, Minnesota.
With more than 2,700 Minnesota National Guard soldiers from the 34th Red Bull Infantry representing over 500 Minnesota communities currently serving in Kuwait, Serving Our Troops and a full team of volunteers will be providing a message of appreciation in the form 13,000 12 ounce steaks during massive simultaneous meals for both our soldiers overseas in Kuwait and their family members back home in Saint Paul.

Serving Our Troops will visit all five bases where the 1st Brigade Combat Team Red Bull Soldiers Operate (Camp Arifjan, Camp Buehring, Camp Virginia, Ali Al Salem and the Kuwait Naval Base) to serve up a sincere message of appreciation.
Simultaneously back home at the River Centre in Saint Paul, their family and friends will be treated to a fantastic event with food, entertainment and opportunities to connect with their loved ones - all linked via live video

Videos by Spc. Bob Brown and Pfc. Linsey Williams

Camp Arifjan videos playlist (720p HD): http://t.co/Abk2YK7c

Camp Buehring videos playlist (720p HD): http://t.co/VOuyPrXk

http://www.servingourtroops.com/

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7 Civilians Killed in Helmand Blast

At least seven civilians were killed on Monday in a blast in the southern Helmand province, local officials said on Tuesday.

A provincial spokesman, Dawood Ahmadi, told TOLOnews that "seven civilians were killed when a blast occurred yesterday in Nawzad district of Helmand."

Four women and three children are among the victims and the explosion took place in a house in Sarkhdaz area of the district, he added.

He did not provide more details, adding that Afghan police started its investigation about what caused the blast.

No group including the Taliban has claimed responsibility for the blast.
Insurgents often use homemade bombs in their attacks against Afghan and Nato troops, but most of the victims are civilians.

More than 3,021 Afghan civilians have been killed in 2011 conflict, the UN said in its recently released report.

Taliban-led insurgents caused 77 percent of the deaths last year, up to 14 percent from 2010, while Nato-led and Afghan government forces were responsible for killing 410 civilians -14 percent of the total, it added.

from TOLONEWS

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18 killed as gunmen open fire on bus in Kohistan, Pakistan

At least 18 people have been killed after gunmen opened fire on a passenger bus in a northern Pakistan village in an apparently sectarian attack, police officials say.

The incident occurred on Tuesday in the remote mountainous village of Harban Nala in Kohistan district, about 200km north of the capital Islamabad, as the bus was carrying at least 25 passengers from Rawalpindi to Gilgit, police said.

"Armed men hiding on both sides of the road attacked the bus," local police chief Mohammad Ilyas said. "Initial reports said 18 people died and seven [were] wounded,"he said.

The motives of the attack were unclear, but a senior police official told Reuters news agency that all aboard the bus were Shia and that the gunmen belonged to a local Sunni group.

"It appears to be a sectarian attack," Abdul Sattar Khan, a local member of parliament, told the AFP news agency. "It is a remote area. We are getting reports that the gunmen forced people to get off the bus. They checked their papers and shot them dead."

Human rights groups have heavily criticised the Pakistani government for failing to curb sectarian violence between the country's majority Sunni and minority Shia Muslim communities that has killed thousands.

Sunni groups have targeted Shias with deadly attacks across Pakistan, particularly in the northwest.

• http://www.aljazeera.com/
• http://in.reuters.com/
• http://www.thenewstribe.com/

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