The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Capt. Michael C. Braden, 31, of Lock Haven, Pa., died April 18 in Bagram, Afghanistan. He was assigned to the Division Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kan.
For more information the media may contact 1st Infantry Division Public Affairs Office at 785-240-1796.
---
FORT RILEY, Kan. – A Fort Riley Soldier has died in Afghanistan.
Captain Michael Braden, 31, was pronounced dead at a
medical facility on Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, after being found
unresponsive in his living quarters Wednesday morning. The cause of
death is under investigation.
Braden was a signal officer assigned to the 1st
Infantry Division Headquarters which is currently deployed in support of
Operation Enduring Freedom. This was Braden’s second deployment with
the division. In 2010, he deployed for a yearlong tour to Basra, Iraq.
He also deployed to Qatar for five months in 2005.
Braden, a Pennsylvania native,
graduated from Slippery Rock University and received his Army commission
in May 2003. He was assigned to Fort Riley in December 2008.
Braden’s awards include a Bronze Star Medal, Army Commendation Medal and the Army Achievement Medal.
Aden, Yemen (Reuters) - The Yemeni air force killed nine suspected militants in two air raids in southern Yemen's restive Abyan province on Friday, a local official said, a day after the army said it killed 18 insurgents in a counter-offensive in the same area.
More than 200 people have been killed since government forces stepped up their attacks on al Qaeda-linked militants who assaulted a military camp near the town of Lawdar, in Abyan province, last week.
"Five armed elements were killed in one of the Yemeni air force attacks and four in another," the local official told Reuters. Both raids were on positions of Ansar al-Sharia (Partisans of Islamic Law) near Lawdar, he said.
The Defense Ministry said earlier on its website that the army had killed 18 militants on Thursday while pushing back Ansar al-Sharia fighters from several positions near Zinjibar, their stronghold and the capital of Abyan province.
Yemen slipped into a state of chaos after the outbreak of protests more than a year ago that led to the removal of President Ali Abdullah Saleh under a deal brokered by Yemen's Gulf neighbors.
Islamist insurgents have exploited the weakened central government control by seizing a number of towns in the south, close to key shipping lanes in the Red Sea.
The ministry website said security forces had uncovered an al Qaeda plot to use six vehicles packed with explosives to launch suicide attacks on gas facilities in Belhaf in southern Shabwa province.
Yemen's oil and gas pipelines have been sabotaged repeatedly, disrupting exports by the small producer.
The government has regularly reported al Qaeda plots to launch further attacks, but it has not been possible to confirm them independently.
France's Total gas pipeline to Balhaf was last blown up in March, hours after a U.S. drone attack killed at least five militants.
The new president, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who took office vowing to fight al Qaeda, is also facing challenges from Shi'ite Muslim rebels in the north and secessionists in the south.
(Reporting by Mohammed Mukhashaf; Writing by Firouz Sedarat; Editing by Tim Pearce)
Three U.S. Military Service Members Killed in Auto Accident
STUTTGART, Germany,Apr 20, 2012 — Three U.S. military members and three civilians died in a vehicle accident in Bamako, Mali today.
The
U.S. military members were in Mali as part of an on-going engagement
prior to the unrest that occurred in Mali on March 21. Though U.S.
military engagement has been suspended in Mali, those U.S. military
members in country remained to provide support to the U.S. Embassy.
The cause of the accident is currently under investigation.
The names of the service members are being withheld pending notification of next of kin.
For
more information, please contact the U.S. AFRICOM Public Affairs at +49
711 729 4714 or after hours at +49 151 1217 8717 or
AFRICOM-Media@usafricom.mil.
Adnan Rashid, one of Pakistan's most-wanted persons, has made a
brazen appearance on a Pakistani Taliban video days after escaping a
northwestern Pakistan prison.
By Karen Parrish American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, April 20, 2012 – Defense Department officials said
today the four International Security Assistance Force members killed in
a helicopter crash in southern Afghanistan yesterday were Americans.
“Regrettably, we can confirm that four U.S. service members lost
their lives in this crash,” George Little, acting assistant secretary of
defense for public affairs, told Pentagon reporters today.
Pentagon spokesman Navy Capt. John Kirby, who returned this week from
approximately two months’ duty in Afghanistan, said no information is
yet available on the mission the helicopter crew was performing.
“We still believe that weather was the principal cause [of the accident],” Kirby said.
He added that as with all such incidents, the crash remains under investigation until all possible details are determined.
“They’re going to look at all factors, but right now it appears that weather was the principal cause,” Kirby said.
He said defense officials are not aware of any enemy fire reported in the area where the crash took place.
--------- KABUL, Afghanistan — A United States helicopter crashed in bad weather
in southern Afghanistan on Thursday after it responded to evacuate
Afghan police officers wounded in a suicide attack on a police
checkpoint, an Afghan official said.
Two Afghan officials said the crash killed four Americans. Late on
Thursday, however, NATO confirmed only that one of its helicopters had
crashed in southern Afghanistan. It said on Friday that its
investigation was ongoing, and would not say whether those on board had
been killed nor confirm their nationality.
Other news organizations reported that the helicopter was an American Black Hawk.
The helicopter went down around 9 p.m. in the Garmsir district in
southern Helmand Province, according to Mohammad Fahim Gorbati, the
district governor. Both Mr. Gorbati and a provincial Afghan security
official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said four Americans had
died in the crash.
Mr. Gorbati said four Afghan police officers had been killed in the
suicide attack on the police checkpoint, and seven others wounded, and
that the American helicopter was flying to the scene of the attack to
take the wounded officers to a nearby hospital. A Taliban spokesman,
Qari Yousaf Ahmadi, claimed that insurgents had shot down the
helicopter.
Corporal Georgina Coupe is the video camerawoman for the
British Army’s Combat Camera Team (CCT) based in Afghanistan throughout
summer 2012 as part of 12th Mechanized Brigade.
The current CCT includes me Corporal Georgina Coupe, camerawoman,
Sergeant Andy Reddy, photographer, and our team leader Captain Will
Campbell Ricketts. Over the next six months we will be providing video,
photographs and news articles telling the story of British troops in
Afghanistan as we continue to mentor the Afghan security forces.
For me, the best thing about my job is the variety of work and people
we work with. In the space of a few hours we can go from filming
helicopter manoeuvres to a Combat Logistic Patrol transporting vital
supplies across the desert. You can’t just arrive in Afghanistan and
turn the camera on. Before we deployed, we completed a comprehensive
training package, enabling us to be ready to go straight out on the
ground, alongside the front-line troops.
Arrival at the front line
We flew into Camp Bastion, which is to be our base for the duration
of our tour, somewhere to call home but where we are unlikely to be
spending much time. Bastion is really a central location that makes it
easy for us to deploy forwards from.
We got into Bastion at a particularly somber moment as our arrival
coincided with a service of remembrance for three fallen soldiers. The
poignant services held for those serving out here are documented by the
CCT. It’s a difficult but crucial job because it provides a tribute for
the families back home.
The Welsh Six Nations victory was a much welcome distraction for the
soldiers who managed to make it back from operations on the ground. The
atmosphere was electric, and a great excuse for the Welsh flags to be
flying high.
Protection dog Vinco has recently arrived in Afghanistan with his handler. Photo by Corporal Andy Reddy RLC
A big operational success was the handover of the final checkpoint in
the Lashkar Gah area from British Forces to the Afghan Uniformed
Police. The occasion was attended by Afghan officials accompanied by
Afghan media, with whom I found myself jostling with for the best video
position. It was a great opportunity for us to try the local Afghan
cuisine and also to watch a game of volleyball between British troops
and the police (the Afghans won hands down).
Ignoring the age-old advice of never working with children or
animals, we spent a day with two military dog handlers. Andy spent quite
a bit of time getting up close with a particularly ferocious looking
protection dog Vinco, but came away intact with some great shots. We
managed to combine this particular job with a visit to Forward Operating
Base (FOB) Price, known locally as FOB Nice, with an impressive range
of culinary delights: a favorite pastime of my own (the eating side of
things not the cooking). Link to the Military Working Dogs video
With the recent arrival of 12th Mechanized Brigade we’ve got some
exciting times and operations coming up, along with a selection of
celebrities scheduled to visit and we’ll be keeping everyone back in
the UK updated on their progress as it happens.
Volleyball
match between British and Afghan troops in the Afghanistan town of
Tabila, in the region of Babaji. Photo by Corporal Andy Reddy RLC
Soldiers
from all around Wales have returned from operations on the front line
to support their rugby team while in Afghanistan. Photo by Corporal Andy
Reddy RLC
It is with great
sadness that the Ministry of Defence must confirm that Sapper Connor
Ray, from 33 Engineer Regiment (Explosive Ordnance Disposal), died in
hospital in Birmingham on 18 April 2012 from wounds sustained in
Afghanistan.
Sapper Connor Ray [Picture: via MOD]
On 11 April 2012, Sapper Ray was involved in a search and clearance
operation in the Nad 'Ali district of central Helmand near to
Checkpoint Kahmanan. The aim of the mission was to clear a compound
previously used by insurgents, allowing the local population to safely
return to the area.
During this operation Sapper Ray was seriously injured in an IED
strike. He received immediate medical attention before being taken to
the Camp Bastion Role 3 Hospital and was later evacuated to the Queen
Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.
Sapper Connor Ray
Sapper Connor Ray, aged 21, from Newport, started his military career
in January 2008 at the Army Foundation College in Harrogate. He joined
the Corps of Royal Engineers in June 2009 and qualified as a Building
and Structural Finisher upon completion of his trade training at
Chatham.
He joined 49 Field Squadron (Explosive Ordnance Disposal), 33
Engineer Regiment (Explosive Ordnance Disposal), in April 2010, where he
trained as an Advanced Searcher. He was kept busy in his specialist
role, which included providing support for a number of high profile
events. During his time in Afghanistan, Sapper Ray and his team
successfully undertook a number of high risk searches which undoubtedly
saved numerous British and Afghan lives.
A popular young soldier who was cheerful and engaging, Sapper Ray
showed much promise. He was professional and dependable and was well
liked by those that knew him. He leaves behind his brother Vinnie,
stepfather Steve, sisters Hollie and Bonnie, and girlfriend Hollie.
The family of Sapper Ray have made the following statement:
"We are intensely shocked, distressed and saddened after losing our
hero Connor Ray, who died as a result of injuries sustained in
Afghanistan. We are all tremendously proud of Connor. Connor was part of
Britain's engineer search unit - 33 Engineer Regiment (EOD); he was
critically hurt last Wednesday, the eve of his 21st birthday.
"In heaven with his mum now, we will always remember his love of life,
his sense of humour and cherish the short time he had to touch our
lives."
Sapper Ray's family
"He loved his time in the Army and made great friends. Connor was a
hero to all of his family and friends; brother Vinnie, 21, sisters
Hollie, 17, and Bonnie, 16, Aunty Eileen, stepfather Steve, grandparents
Leo and Linda, Keith and Sue, girlfriend Hollie, and all of his good
friends and family will miss him terribly.
"In heaven with his mum now, we will always remember his love of
life, his sense of humour and cherish the short time he had to touch our
lives. We would like to thank everybody for their kind words, love and
support at this tragic time."
"The tragic loss of Sapper Ray has shaken both the EOD and
Search Task Force and the Regiment deeply. At this most difficult time
my thoughts and heartfelt condolences are with his family and his many
friends.
"An extremely positive and determined young soldier, Sapper
Ray was a real team player. Amiable and upbeat, he had a natural
ability to encourage and inspire others with his limitless optimism. He
would often be found in the gym, working hard to maintain his fitness,
whilst setting an excellent example to those less motivated. A very
professional soldier, he had taken to the extremely challenging role of
being a High Assurance Searcher with gusto and had already demonstrated
significant potential in this specialist role. Sapper Ray undoubtedly
had a bright future ahead of him.
"During physically and emotionally demanding times here in
Afghanistan, Sapper Ray remained his upbeat and professional self. Hard
working and dedicated, his positive attitude had a tangible effect on
those around him. He easily integrated into an Advanced Search Team from
another Squadron, quickly making his mark and new friends. Sapper Ray
epitomised the 'One Team' ethos of the disparate Explosive Ordnance
Disposal and Search Task Force and was an absolute pleasure to have
within the Unit.
"An extremely positive and determined young soldier, Sapper Ray was a
real team player. Amiable and upbeat, he had a natural ability to
encourage and inspire others with his limitless optimism."
Lieutenant Colonel Simon Bell
"The Corps of the Royal Engineers has today lost an inspiring young
soldier who was certainly going places. He set an excellent example to
others, had many friends and leaves a gap in our ranks. He will be
sorely missed by all members of both the EOD and Search Task Force and
his Regiment, but never forgotten. His family and friends are in our
thoughts and prayers at this time."
Major Ben Hawkins, Officer Commanding Operations Squadron, Explosive Ordnance Disposal and Search Task Force, said:
"Deliberately going into an area suspected to contain
improvised explosive devices is perhaps one of the most challenging jobs
in the world; to do so takes a certain type of character. It demands a
stoic resolve and resolute dedication. Sapper Ray had these virtues in
abundance.
"I have known Sapper Ray for nearly a year; he was always
happy, never more so than when busy. Always smiling and exceptionally
personable, Sapper Ray had the kind of 'can do' attitude that every
commander would want in his soldiers.
"His quick wit and easy going nature endeared him to all
who had the privilege of working with him. He was an ideal and immediate
choice to integrate into a Search Team from another Squadron; such was
our faith in his abilities and character. In short he was a fine
soldier, ideal Sapper and an excellent searcher.
"Sapper Ray's loss will be keenly felt by my Squadron and
in particular by those many who were privileged to have been his
friends."
From the offset, I recognised that Sapper Connor Ray was a superb
soldier. He never failed to impress those around him with his infectious
wit and humour. Totally professional and reliable as a young Royal
Engineer he would, without question, have been a future leader of men."
Warrant Officer Class 2 Kevin Prevett
Warrant Officer Class 2 Kevin Prevett, Squadron Sergeant
Major, Operations Squadron, Explosive Ordnance Disposal and Search Task
Force, said:
"From the offset, I recognised that Sapper Connor Ray was a
superb soldier. He never failed to impress those around him with his
infectious wit and humour. Totally professional and reliable as a young
Royal Engineer he would, without question, have been a future leader of
men. My abiding memory of Connor is simply his smile, which infected
those around him. It was these qualities, to name but a few, which will
be cherished by his friends and colleagues of the Royal Engineer Search
community. The lads and I will never forget him."
Sergeant Simon Gardner, Explosive Ordnance Disposal
Operator and Troop Sergeant, 49 Field Squadron (Explosive Ordnance
Disposal), said:
"Sapper Connor Ray was an irreplaceable character within 3
Troop, 49 Field Squadron (Explosive Ordnance Disposal). His infectious
smile and keen sense of humour will be sorely missed. Throughout his two
years with 3 Troop, he carried out many duties including maritime
interdiction and search assistance to the civil powers. In this diverse
role, Connor excelled in every aspect. He was a young soldier filled
with promise for the future. Always full of morale, he was the first to
volunteer for any task. He was a pleasure to serve with. There will be a
huge hole left in the lives of all that met Connor, but these will be
healed by the fond memories of such an inspiring young man. RIP Connor."
"Connor was simply one of the best Sappers I've ever known
and even more, he was a true friend. I'd known Connor for three years.
He was quiet at first but as he settled into his role his true
personality began to shine. Kind in nature, Connor is what a Sapper
should be; extremely fit, reliable and trustworthy. He will be sadly
missed by his friends, family and loved ones.
"Connor was simply one of the best Sappers I've ever known and even
more, he was a true friend. Kind in nature, Connor is what a Sapper
should be; extremely fit, reliable and trustworthy."
Corporal Jamie Paul
"Connor, you will never be forgotten, memories I have will last forever, sleep well pal, we'll meet again soon."
Sapper Sean Cairns, 49 Field Squadron (Explosive Ordnance Disposal), said:
"Connor was a great lad - always smiling, always laughing.
He made the best of a bad situation. He loved having a good laugh
whether it was with the lads or generally messing about. He was looking
forward to coming on tour and getting on 'Op Bronze' and 'Op Massive',
then going back to see his girlfriend Hollie and enjoying a good holiday
with her. I noticed when joining the Squadron, he was a popular lad and
after meeting him, I soon realised why. He was an all round top bloke.
Stay safe now and see you soon big guy."
Sapper Daniel Kelly, 49 Field Squadron (Explosive Ordnance Disposal), said:
"Sapper Connor Ray, you can never trust a man with two
first names, especially Connor. He was a fan of practical jokes and
having a laugh. However, one thing you could always trust him to do was
to be at the troop bar with a crate under his arm and a big smile across
his face.
"Connor, it was a shock to hear of your injuries and worse
when we found out you had passed away, you were a big lad with a big
heart and a big smile. You will leave a big gap but you will never be
forgotten. I will always treasure the memories that we shared; my
favourite memory being the time spent growing your massive fringe, like
your film heroes. You will always be a hero in my eyes."
The Secretary of State for Defence, Philip Hammond, said:
"I was very saddened to learn of the death yesterday of
Sapper Connor Ray, who was severely injured last week while doing a very
dangerous and difficult job in the service of his country.
"It is clear from the tributes paid to him that Sapper Ray
had a bright future ahead of him and was someone who inspired those
around him with his positive attitude, infectious wit and limitless
optimism. My thoughts and heartfelt condolences go out to his family,
comrades and friends at this difficult time."
Unit Creat for 4th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division "Raiders" (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
DOD Identifies Unit for Upcoming Afghanistan Rotation
The Department of Defense announced today one Army brigade combat team to deploy as part of the upcoming rotation of forces operating in Afghanistan. The scheduled early Winter 2012 rotation involves nearly 3,900 soldiers from the 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.
DoD will continue to announce major deployments as they are approved. For information on this unit, contact Maj. Jennifer Willis, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, at 253-477-2369 or 253-967-5801.
Photographs
of the suicide assault teams that struck in Kabul, Paktia, Logar, and
Nangarhar on April 15, 2012. Photos from Voice of Jihad.
The Afghan Taliban have released photos and videos of members of the
suicide assault teams that attacked Kabul and the provincial capitals of
Paktia, Logar, and Nangarhar earlier this week. The photos were
released as the US and Afghan officials have blamed the Haqqani Network,
a dangerous Taliban subgroup, for executing the attacks.
The photographs show the Taliban marching and standing in formation.
Some fighters are in military uniforms with masks or motorcycle helmets.
Others are dressed in white and are wearing suicide vests.
The videos show the fighters sitting in front of a camera and
announcing the reasons for carrying out the attack. One of the videos
shows a clip of a suicide bomber speaking in English, and another in
Pashtu.
The Taliban said the fighters carried out the attack to avenge "the
two great evil acts of the brutal American forces, one of which is the
desecration of the Holy Qur'an by the American soldiers in Bagram air
base, and the second is the massacre of Zangawat in Kandahar province,"
where a rogue US soldier executed 17 civilians in the southern province,
according to a transition of the statement by the SITE Intelligence
Group.
The Taliban have claimed that more than 220 "NATO-puppet forces" were killed
during the assaults that took place on April 15. The Taliban routinely
exaggerate the effects of their operations. Afghan officials said that
36 Taliban fighters, 11 Afghan security personnel, and two civilians
were killed during the attack.
The video was released as US and Afghan officials have blamed the
attacks on the Haqqani Network, the Taliban subgroup that is closely
allied to al Qaeda and is supported by Pakistan's military and its
Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate.
Today, Ryan Crocker, the US's Ambassador to Afghanistan, said that
"there is no question in our mind that the Haqqanis were responsible for
these attacks. We know where their leadership lives and we know where
these plans are made," Al Jazeera reported.
"They're not made in Afghanistan. They're made in Miramshah, which is
in North Waziristan, which is in Pakistan,' Crocker continued,
referring to the Haqqani Network's main base in the tribal agency that
borders Afghanistan.
Local security officials in southern Helmand province on Thursday announced at least 10 militants were killed following military operations by Afghan national army soldiers.
According to a statement released by 215 Maiwand Afghan National Army Brigade media office the militants were killed following a joint military operation by Afghan national army and Afghan national police forces at Washir district of southern Helmand province.
The statement further added Afghan security forces also destroyed a mine production company following the operations.
In a separate military operation at Nad-e-Ali, Marjah and Sangin districts of Helmand province Afghan security forces cleared around 1250 of land from opium, the statement added.
In a separate incident a militant was injured and was detained along with a motorcycle after he ambushed a convoy of the Afghan security forces patrol in Garmsir district.
Anti-government armed militant groups yet to comment regarding the reports.
Yemen(Reuters) - At least 13 Islamist fighters linked to al Qaeda were killed in clashes with Yemen's army in the impoverished country's south on Thursday, the government and militants said.
Yemen has launched an offensive against Islamist insurgents in the territory who have taken advantage of the chaos surrounding more than a year of mass protests and fighting that unseated former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
At least seven militants were killed near the southern Yemeni city of Lawdar on Thursday, the defense ministry's news service reported in a text message. Four of the members of the Ansar al-Sharia (Partisans of Islamic Law) group were Somalis, it added.
Six militants were also killed in clashes with the Yemeni army in the southern city of Zinjibar, a spokesman for Ansar al-Sharia told Reuters. An army official said two soldiers were killed and four others wounded in the clashes.
More than 200 people have been killed since government forces stepped up attacks on the militants whom it accused of assaulting a military camp near Lawdar last week.
Islamist insurgents have already taken control of a number of cities in the southern territory which is close to key shipping lanes in the Red Sea.
The interior ministry said it had received unconfirmed reports of a plot by al Qaeda suicide bombers to attack gas facilities in Belhaf in the southern Shabwa province and security forces were on the alert.
Yemen's oil and gas pipelines have been repeatedly sabotaged since last year's anti-government protests created a power vacuum in parts of the country. Yemen's government has regularly reported al Qaeda plots to launch further attacks, but it has not been possible to confirm the reports independently.
France's Total gas pipeline to Balhaf was last blown up in March, hours after a U.S. drone attack killed at least five militants.
The ministry added Yemen had tightened security around the Saudi embassy in Sanaa after an al Qaeda-linked militant claimed responsibility for last month's kidnapping of a senior Saudi diplomat.
Yemen's new president, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who took office vowing to fight al Qaeda, is also facing challenges from Shi'ite Muslim rebels in the north and secessionists in the south.
(Reporting by Mohammed Mukhashaf in Aden and Mohammed Ghobari in Sanaa; Writing by Mahmoud Habboush and Rania El Gamal; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
BAGHDAD, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Deadly attacks struck six Iraqi provinces on Thursday, killing at least 43 people and wounding some 155, in what appeared to be an attempt by insurgent groups to destabilize the country and undermine confidence in the Iraqi government.
In the capital Baghdad, one of the deadliest attack occurred in the morning in the northern neighborhood of Kadhmiyah, when a car bomb parked near a hotel went off and killed up to three people and wounded 20 others.
In central Baghdad, another car bomb detonated near the convoy of the Iraqi Health Minister Majid Hamad Amin Jamil, a Kurd, in al- Talaie Square, killing two of the minister's bodyguards and wounding four people.
Amin escaped the attack unharmed, the police said.
A third car and three more roadside bombs ripped through the capital and killed a total of six people and wounded some 28 others. Read more above the video...
-------- Stratfor tactical analyst Ben West discusses the militant attacks
throughout Iraq on April 19 and what the decline in magnitude of such
attacks means for Iraqi security forces. For more, visit http://www.Stratfor.com
-------- continue...
Near Baghdad, a suicide bomber blew up his car bomb near a military checkpoint in the town of Tarmiyah, some 30 km north of Baghdad, killing a soldier and wounding six others.
In a separate incident, a suicide bomber blew up his explosive vest in the industrial district in Taji area, some 20 km north of Baghdad, killing five people and wounding nine others.
Also in Taji area, two roadside bombs detonated in the area, killing a civilian and wounding five others.
In Iraq's northern-central province of Salahudin, two car bombs and a roadside bomb struck the city of Samarra, some 120 km north of Baghdad, targeted Iraqi police and government-backed Awakening Council group members, killing a total of eight people and wounding five others.
The Awakening Council group, also known as Sons of Iraq movement or Sahwa in Arabic, consists of mostly anti-U.S. Sunni insurgent militant groups, who turned their rifles to fight al- Qaida network after their leaders became dismayed by al-Qaida's brutality and religious zealotry in the country.
In a separate incident, a soldier was killed when a roadside bomb went off near an Iraqi army checkpoint on a main road near the town of Ishaqi, 110 km north of Baghdad.
Also in the province, a suspected gunman was killed in the morning when a bomb he was carrying in his car went off in the city of Dujail, some 60 km north of Baghdad.
In Iraq's northern city of Kirkuk, some 250 km north of Baghdad, two car bombs and a roadside bomb struck the Iraqi police in the morning, killing a total of four policemen and wounding 23 people, including seven policemen.
Colonel Taha Mohammed, police chief of al-Maqdad police station, was among the wounded, the police said.
Near Kirkuk, six mortar rounds landed on a village in the city of Dibis, some 45 km northwest of Kirkuk, killing four people and wounding six others.
The ethnically-mixed province of Kirkuk and its capital Kirkuk City are part of disputed areas between the Kurds and both Arabs and Turkomans. The area has long been the hotbed of insurgency since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
In Iraq's eastern province of Diyala, a suicide bomber blew up his explosive vest at the entrance of the house of a police officer in al-Amin district in northern the provincial capital city of Baquba, some 65 km northeast of Baghdad, killing a passer- by and wounding 11 people.
The officer survived the attack unharmed as he was not at home, but five of his family members were among the wounded, the police said.
In a separate incident, gunmen attacked a police checkpoint in al-Hadeed area, just west of Baquba and killed a policeman and wounded three others.
In addition, gunmen wearing military uniforms stormed a house of a Sahwa group member in the town of Mansouriyat al-Jabal, some 45 km east of Baquba, killing him before they fled the scene.
Also in Diyala, 19 people were wounded in separate bomb attacks across the province mostly targeting the Iraqi security forces.
In Iraq's western province of Anbar, a booby-trapped car detonated near a police vehicle in central the provincial capital city of Ramadi, some 110 km west of Baghdad, killing two policemen and wounding four others aboard along with a passer-by.
In a separate incident, a policeman was killed and three other wounded when a car bomb struck their patrol in central Ramadi.
In addition, a sticky bomb attached to the car of a policeman went off in southern the city of Fallujah, some 50 km west of Baghdad, killing the policeman and wounding two people accompanying him in his car.
Also in Fallujah, gunmen planted bombs in the house of a police officer in southern the city and blew them up, wounding two family members, but the officer himself escaped unhurt as he was not at home.
In Iraq's northern province of Nineveh, four civilians were injured when a roadside bomb exploded near a popular restaurant in central the city of Mosul, some 400 km north of Baghdad, a provincial police source anonymously told Xinhua.
Iraqi security forces said they captured a suicide bomber before he blew himself up while he was trying to sneak among troops and a crowd of people who gathered at the site of the explosion near the restaurant.
The latest wave of violence prompted immediate condemnation from Iraq politicians, including the parliament speaker Osama al- Nujaifi. Nujaifi warned that such attacks came as some parties, which he did not name, "are trying to exploit internal crises in order to target the national unity and are trying to sow sectarian and racism strife among the components of the Iraqi people."
Baghdad military command spokesman Colonel Dhia al-Wakeel said in a statement posted on the Interior Ministry website that "the purpose of these coordinated bombings is to send a message by the terrorist gangs that they are still alive and they did not completely lose the battle with the Iraqi security forces."
For her part, spokeswoman of the parliamentary bloc of Iraqia, Maysoon al-Damaluji, blamed Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, as the commander in chief of Iraqi armed forces, for the weakness and futility of security measures that should prevent bloodshed in the country.
"The continuation of security deterioration in the country came as an inevitable result of the failure of officials to oversee the security issue," she said.
Violence and sporadic high profile attacks are still common in Iraqi cities despite the dramatic decrease of violence over the past few years.
KABUL, April 19 (Xinhua) --Afghan police backed by national army and the NATO-led forces have killed 25 Taliban militants and wounded nine other over the past 24 hours, Interior Ministry said in a statement released here on Thursday.
"During the past 24 hours, Afghan Police backed by National Army and the NATO-led Coalition Forces launched 15 joint clean up operations in Kabul, Nangahar, Baghlan, Kunduz, Balkh, Helmand, Zabul, Logar, Ghazni, and Farah provinces during which 25 armed insurgents were killed, nine wounded and another one arrested," the statement added.
However, it did not say if there were any casualties on the security forces.
Taliban militants fighting Afghan and NATO-led troops have yet to make comment.
Washington Time
Kabul Time
London Time
