Suicide car bombing kills 3, injures over 20 in northern Iraq

BAGHDAD, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Three people were killed and more than 20 others injured in a suicide car bombing Friday near Iraq's northern major city of Mosul, local police said.

A police official, on condition of anonymity, told Xinhua via telephone that the explosion took place at a Shiite mosque and most of the victims were Shiite residents who went there for Friday prayer.

The blast also caused damage to several nearby residential buildings and vehicles, said the official.

As some of the injured were in serious condition, the death toll could rise later, said the source.

Violence in Iraq has seen an increase recently.

from XINHUA
2012-08-10 20:08:56

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6 Afghan civilians killed in roadside bombing in southern province

Districts of Helmand Province. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Up to six Afghan civilians were killed and one injured Friday morning when a car ran over a roadside bomb in the country's southern province of Helmand, a provincial police source said.

"A civilian's car was running along a road in Dahzor area of Musa Qala district at around 9 a.m. local time today but the ill- fated vehicle touched off a bomb and the blast killed six passengers and injured one other," a senior police official Mohammad Ismail Hotak told Xinhua.

He blamed Taliban insurgents for the attack. Taliban militants have been largely relying on roadside bombing and suicide attacks in fighting Afghan security force and NATO-led troops based in Afghanistan, often causing civilian casualties.

The insurgent group, who have been waging an insurgency of more than one decade, have yet to make comments.

Between Jan. 1 and June 30, 2012, in conflict-related violent incidents, a total of 1,145 civilians were killed and 1,954 injured, a 15 percent decrease in overall civilian casualties compared with the same period in 2011, a mid-year report released by the United Nations office in capital city of Kabul on Wednesday said.

from XINHUA
2012-08-10 14:55:03

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ISAF supply container torched near Quetta

ISLAMABAD (PAN): An International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) supply container was attacked near Quetta, the capital of Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province, on Friday.

The vehicle’s driver and cleaner were wounded during the shooting in the Dasht area of Mastung district, a private TV channel reported.

“Unknown armed men riding a motorbike opened fire at a NATO container on the national highway,” DawnNews quoted a Levies official as saying.

The assailants set the container on fire before fleeing the scene. The injured driver and his assistant were evacuated to hospital.

A day earlier, security forces recovered 12,000 kilograms of explosives, 20 rockets, seven RPGs, six cylinders, two hand grenades, 10 controlled detonator systems, two gunpowder-mixing machines, three cylinders filled with bearings, 15 suicide vests in Quetta.

from Pajhwok
by Qaiser YousafzaionAug 10, 2012 - 13:13

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Blast kills 2 Afghan police officers in eastern Afghanistan

According to local authorities in eastern Ghazni province of Afghanistan, a number of Afghan police officers were killed or injured following an explosion in central Ghazni city on Friday.

Provincial governor spokesman Fazal Sabawon confirming the report said two Afghan police officers were killed and three others were injured following the blast.

Mr. Sabawon further added the incident took place after a Ranger vehicle of the Afghan public protection forces struck with a roadside bomb.

In the meantime chief of the provincial hospital said two individuals who were killed and three others who were injured following the blast were taken to the hospital so far.

No group including the Taliban militants have so far claimed responsibility behind the incident.

from KHAAMA
By Sajad - Fri Aug 10, 1:35 pm

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Aug. 10., 2012. - ISAF Joint Command Morning Operational Update

KABUL, Afghanistan – An Afghan and coalition security force arrested a Taliban leader in Nad ‘Ali district, Helmand province, Wednesday.

The leader planned and directed several attacks throughout the region. He also provided insurgents with improvised explosive devices, heavy weapons and ammunition.

At the time of his arrest, the Taliban leader was in the process of acquiring explosives for upcoming insurgent attacks.

During the operation, the security force also detained a Taliban facilitator.

In other International Security Assistance Force news throughout Afghanistan:

North

In Chimtal district, Balkh province, an Afghan and coalition security force conducted an operation to arrest a Taliban leader today. The Taliban leader directs attacks against Afghan security forces throughout the region. He is also responsible for conducting attacks against reconstruction projects in the province. During the operation, the security force detained one suspected insurgent.

South

In Nad ‘Ali district, Helmand province, an Afghan and coalition security force arrested a Taliban weapons smuggler Wednesday. The detained weapons smuggler transported and distributed illegal explosives, weapons and ammunition to Taliban insurgents throughout the district.

East
An Afghan and coalition security force detained numerous suspected insurgents during an operation to arrest a Haqqani leader in Shwak district, Paktiya province, today. The Haqqani leader is responsible for facilitating attacks against Afghan and coalition forces throughout the district.

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Aug. 10., 2012. - RC-East operational update

BAGRAM, Afghanistan - Afghan and coalition forces killed two insurgents, detained five, located a weapons cache and cleared seven improvised explosive devices during operations in eastern Afghanistan throughout the past 24 hours, Aug. 9.

Ghazni province
Afghan National Security Forces and coalition forces found and safely cleared an IED in Ghazni district.

Kapisa province
Afghan National Security Forces and coalition forces killed an insurgent during an engagement in Tagab district.

Khowst province
Afghan Border Police and coalition forces detained two insurgents during an engagement in Gurbuz district. The detained suspects were transferred to a base for questioning.

Laghman province
Afghan National Security Forces and coalition forces killed an insurgent and detained two during an engagement in Mehtar Lam district. The detained suspects were transferred to a base for questioning.

Logar province
Afghan National Security Forces and coalition forces detained an insurgent who was emplacing an IED in Muhammad Aghah district. The IED was cleared and the detained suspect was transferred to a base for questioning.

Nangarhar province
Afghan National Security Forces and coalition forces found and safely cleared two IEDs, one in Jalalabad district and one in Khugyani district.

Paktika province
Afghan National Security Forces and coalition forces found and safely cleared an IED in Sar Rowzah district.

Paktiya province
Afghan National Security Forces and coalition forces found and safely cleared an IED in Zurmat district.

Parwan province
Afghan National Security Forces and coalition forces discovered a weapons cache in Bagram district. The cache contained 18 rockets.

Wardak province
Afghan National Security Forces and coalition forces found and safely cleared an IED in Sayyidabad district.

Operations in RC-East are still ongoing.

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Three U.S. soldiers killed by Afghan police in Helmand

(Reuters) - An Afghan police commander and several of his men killed three U.S. soldiers in the southern province of Helmand, turning guns on them after inviting them to a dinner to discuss security, Afghan officials said on Friday.

The men were all American special forces members and were killed on Thursday night while attending a meeting in the Sarwan Qala area, in what appeared to be a planned attack by rogue Afghan forces.

"During dinner, the police commander and his colleagues shot them and then fled. The commander was Afghan National Police in charge of local police in Sangin," a senior Afghan official told Reuters on condition of anonymity. Sangin is a district.

"It looks like he had drawn up a plan to kill them previously," the official said.

A spokeswoman for NATO-led forces in the country confirmed the incident but said it was too early to say whether it was a rogue shooting or due to insurgent infiltration.

"All we know is that they were killed by an Afghan in a uniform of some sort," the spokeswoman said.

So-called green on blue shootings, in which Afghan police or soldiers turn their guns on their Western colleagues, have seriously eroded trust between the allies as NATO combat soldiers prepare to hand over to Afghan forces by 2014, after which most foreign forces will leave the country.

According to NATO, there have been 24 such attacks on foreign troops since January in which 28 people have been killed, not including Thursday's attack. Last year, there were 21 attacks in which 35 people were killed.

Another foreign soldier was killed in the south on Friday during an insurgent attack, NATO said, while seven civilians were killed and three were wounded by an insurgent roadside bomb, also in Helmand.

In a grim 24 hours for the NATO-led force, three U.S. soldiers and an American aid worker were killed earlier on Thursday in the eastern province of Kunar in an attack by a suicide bomber.

(Additional reporting by Rob Taylor and Mirwais Harooni; Writing by Rob Taylor; Editing by Robert Birsel)

from REUTERS
By Abdul Malik
LASHKAR GHAR, Afghanistan | Fri Aug 10, 2012 8:47am BST

---
Official ISAF Release:

U.S. Forces Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan – Three U.S. Forces-Afghanistan service members died following an attack by an individual wearing an Afghan uniform in southwest Afghanistan today.

It is USFOR-A policy to defer casualty identification procedures to the U.S. Department of Defense.

Date Taken:08.10.2012
Date Posted:08.10.2012 03:50
Location:KABUL, AF

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R.I.P. - Maj. Thomas E. Kennedy, Command Sgt. Maj. Kevin J. Griffin

DOD Identifies Army Casualties
            The Department of Defense announced today the death of two soldiers who were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

            They died Aug. 8, in Sarkowi, in Kunar province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when they encountered an insurgent who detonated a suicide vest.  These soldiers were assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.

            Killed were:

            Maj. Thomas E. Kennedy, 35, of West Point, N.Y., and

            Command Sgt. Maj. Kevin J. Griffin, 45, of Laramie, Wyo.

            For more information related to this release, media may contact the Fort Carson public affairs office at 719-526-7525 and 719-526-5500.

---

Maj. Thomas E. Kennedy

The family of a decorated Army officer from New City is in mourning after receiving news that their loved one was killed by a suicide bomber in Afghanistan.

Maj. Thomas E. Kennedy was serving in the U.S. Army in support of Operation Enduring Freedom on Wednesday when the bomber detonated a suicide vest in Sarkowi, located in the Kunar province of the war-torn nation, said officials in the U.S. Department of Defense.
Kennedy, 35, was killed alongside Command Sgt. Maj. Kevin J. Griffin, 45, of Laramie, Wyo. Both men had been assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Worth, Colo., said Capt. Anthony Hoefler, a spokesman for the DOD.

Kennedy, who grew up in New City and attended Clarkstown schools in addition to Don Bosco Preparatory School in Ramsey, N.J., and the Salisbury Preparatory School in Connecticut, entered into the Army on May 27, 2000, after graduating from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
Between February 2003 and February 2004 and again from August 2005 through August 2006, he was deployed in Iraq. His most recent deployment, his only one to Afghanistan, came on July 18, Hoefler said.
Kennedy had been recognized a number of times as a serviceman, earning dozens of awards and service medals. Among them are the Bronze Star, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Presidential Unit Citation and the Valorous Unit Award. He was awarded a Bronze Star Medal and Purple Heart posthumously, Hoefler said.
Reached at her home in Crested Butte, Colo., Kennedy’s aunt Eileen Kennedy Hughes, said he leaves behind a wife, Kami, and two twin children, a boy and a girl under age 2.

 ---

Command Sgt. Maj. Kevin J. Griffin

A 24-year Army veteran from Laramie died Wednesday in Afghanistan from wounds he received in a suicide bomb attack, the Department of Defense announced Thursday.
Command Sgt. Maj. Kevin J. Griffin, 45, was one of two soldiers who died of wounds suffered when an insurgent detonated a suicide vest in Sarkowi, Kunar Province, the DOD said in a news release.
Griffin had been deployed to Afghanistan since March 13. It was his first deployment in the country after having served three tours in Iraq. He had also been deployed to Kuwait and the Balkans during his Army career.
Griffin was posthumously awarded a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart, according to information provided by Fort Carson.


CSM Kevin J. Griffin hails from Riverton, Wyoming and enlisted in the army in 1988. He attended OSUT training at Fort Knox, Kentucky as a 19K Armor Crewman. He has held positions as an M1 Abrams Main Battle Tank Gunner, Tank Commander, Section Sergeant, Recruiter, Platoon Sergeant, Squadron Master Gunner, First Sergeant, Senior Military Instructor, Operations Sergeant Major, and Squadron Command Sergeant Major. His previous assignments include 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kansas, Kansas City Recruiting Battalion with duty in Springfield, Missouri, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson Colorado, 2nd Infantry Division, Republic of South Korea, 3rd ACR, Fort Carson, Colorado, University of Missouri, Columbia Missouri, and 2nd infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Washington.
His military education includes: PLDC, BNCOC, Army Recruiter Course, ANCOC, M1A1 Master Gunner Course, First Sergeant Course, and the Air Force Senior Non-Commissioned Officers Academy. CSM Griffin is currently pursuing a Bachelors degree in Criminal Justice from Excelsior College.
His awards and decorations include the Bronze Star Medal (3OLC), Meritorious Service Medal (2 OLC), Army Commendation Medal w/Valor (1 OLC), Army Commendation Medal (4 OLC), Joint Service Achievement Medal, Army Achievement Medal (7 OLC), Good Conduct Medal 7th Award, National Defense Service Medal with Bronze Star, Korea Defense Service Medal, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Southwest Asian Service Medal (3 Service Stars), Iraq Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, NCO Professional Development ribbon (numeral 4), Army Service Ribbon, Kuwait Liberation Medal Saudi Arabia, Kuwait Liberation Medal Kuwait, NATO Medal, the Gold Army Recruiting Badge, and Combat Action Badge.

 

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• RIP MAJ Thomas E Kennedy, CSM Kevin J Griffin (waronterrornews.typepad.com)

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Al Qaeda calls on jihadists to attack NATO supplies, 'secure the back' of the Afghan Taliban

By Bill Roggio - August 9, 2012 - LWJ

Al Qaeda's top spokesman for Pakistan called on jihadists in Pakistan to attack NATO supply convoys to "secure the back" of al Qaeda's ally, the Afghan Taliban.

Ustad Ahmad Farooq, al Qaeda's spokesman for Pakistan, made the plea in a videotaped statement that was released today on jihadist web forums. The statement was obtained and translated by the SITE Intelligence Group.

"On this occasion I urge our Mujahid brothers from Karachi and Makran to Khyber that they must pay special attention to targeting American and NATO supply lines," Farooq said. Makran is a coastal area in Baluchistan that includes the port of Gwadar.

Farooq said jihadists should target not only the convoys, but also the owners of the trucking companies that are contracted to ship supplies to NATO forces in Afghanistan.

"Destroy with land mines the containers that carry the instruments of death for our Afghan brothers," Farooq continued. "Wipe out these convoys with guerrilla operations. Target the owners of companies that have contracts for supply ... in short secure the back of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan by any means necessary!"

Farooq berated the Pakistani military and government for their ties to the US, and for accepting the reopening of the supply lines and for allowing the continuation of drone strikes. He described Pakistan's leadership as "slaves" who have sold out Muslims, and who "safeguards its own seat of power and protects its vested interests."

Farooq also urged "the scholars of this nation, callers to the religion and all people of virtue and honour in Pakistan to express their disavowal with this act of treachery with the Jihad in Afghanistan." He said that Pakistan's religious political parties "still have enough power left that if they seek Allah's help, earnestly resolve to stop this series of treachery with the Jihad in Afghanistan using all permissible means and start a mass movement against drone attacks and NATO supplies, the government and army will be forced to submit to their demands in a matter of days."

Pakistan reopened NATO's supply routes into Afghanistan in July , more than seven months after they were shut down following the deaths of 24 Pakistanis in a clash with US soldiers at the border between Afghanistan's Kunar province and Pakistan's Mohmand tribal agency. Twenty-four Pakistani troops were killed after they opened fire on US and Afghan troops operating in Kunar [see LWJ report, Pakistani fire, mutual errors led to Mohmand troop deaths: ISAF inquiry]. Supplies into Afghanistan have barely trickled through the Pakistani border over the last five weeks.

Al Qaeda's call to attack NATO's supply lines follows that of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, a Taliban group that is based in the tribal areas and the northwest. One day after the supply line was reopened, Ihsanullah Ihsan, the group's spokesman, said that the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan will "carry attacks on NATO supplies with a new spirit." Attacks against NATO supply columns and the companies that transport the supplies have been sporadic since Ihsan made his pronouncement, however.

Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2012/08/al_qaeda_calls_on_ji.php#ixzz235hvcoOw

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R.I.P. - Maj. Walter D. Gray

DOD Identifies Air Force Casualty
            The Department of Defense announced today the death of an airman who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

            Maj. Walter D. Gray, 38, of Conyers, Ga., died Aug. 8 from injuries suffered during a suicide bomb attack in Kunar province, Afghanistan.

            Gray was assigned to the 13th Air Support Operations Squadron, Fort Carson, Colo.

            For more information media may contact the Air Force 23rd Wing/93rd Air Ground Operations Wing Public Affairs Office at 229-257-2400.

---

Gray, 38, of Conyers, Ga., was a former enlisted airman who cross-trained to become one of the first air liaison officers in 1997. He was the career field’s second highest-ranking officer after serving for several years as an airfield operations officer.

He was known as “a tremendous officer and leader,” Col. Samuel Milam, commander of the 93rd Air Ground Operations Wing, said in a statement.

Tech. Sgt. Israel Del Toro, a tactical air control party instructor at Joint Base Lackland-San Antonio, said he had known Gray for 12 years, and was an instructor when Gray went through TACP school as an officer. Even though he had been through it before, Del Toro joked with him while he was training with the younger airmen, saying “you better keep up dude.”

“He liked to joke around, he was a joker,” Del Toro said. “He was very good for his buddies.”

Three others were killed in the Aug. 8 attack, including two soldiers and a contractor with the U.S. Agency for International Development.

---

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R.I.P. - Spc. Ethan J. Martin

DOD Identifies Army Casualty
            The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

            Spc. Ethan J. Martin, 22, of Lewiston, Idaho, died Aug. 7 in Koragay, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when he encountered enemy small-arms fire.

            Martin was assigned to 1st Squadron, 40th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska.

            For more information pertaining to this release, media may contact the U.S. Army Alaska public affairs office at 907-384-2072 or 907-384-1542.

---

from idahostatesman:

Spc. Ethan J. Martin, 22, of Lewiston, died Tuesday in Koragay, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when he encountered enemy small-arms fire, according to the Department of Defense.

Martin was assigned to 1st Squadron, 40th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska.

The family of Spc. Martin released this statement to the media:

“Ethan was a very loving young man with a tender heart. He loved Idaho and he loved to hunt and fish. He planned to go to nursing school after leaving the Army.

Ethan leaves behind a loving family and many friends in Bonners Ferry and northern Idaho. His family includes his mother and father, his sister, 4 stepsisters and 3 stepbrothers. Ethan was preceded in death by his grandfathers Leroy Oakes and Ron Marcy. He will be greatly missed by his family and his friends.”

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