Marine Killed by Afghan Soldier Last Month

Military initially listed his death as combat related.

http://sgt-jim.blogspot.com/2012/02/rip-lance-cpl-edward-j-dycus.html

Lance Cpl. Edward J. Dycus was shot in the back of the head while standing guard at Afghan-US Base

WASHINGTON – An Afghan soldier shot to death a 22-year-old Marine at an outpost in southwestern Afghanistan last month in a previously undisclosed case of apparent Afghan treachery that marked at least the seventh killing of an American military member by his supposed ally in the past six weeks, Marine officials said. Lance Cpl. Edward J. Dycus of Greenville, Miss., was shot in the back of the head on Feb. 1 while standing guard at an Afghan-U.S. base in the Marja district of Helmand province. The exact circumstances have not been disclosed, but the Dycus family has been notified that he was killed by an Afghan soldier. Marine officials discussed the matter on condition of anonymity because it is still under investigation.
When the Pentagon announced Dycus' death the day after the shooting, it said he died "while conducting combat operations" in Helmand. It made no mention of treachery, which has become a growing problem for U.S. and allied forces as they work closely with Afghan forces to wind down the war.
The Associated Press inquired about the Dycus case after Maj. Gen. John Toolan, the top Marine commander in Afghanistan at the time, said in an AP interview March 7 that the Afghan government has been embarrassed by recent cases of Afghan soldiers turning their guns on their supposed partners.
"I had one just a month ago where a lance corporal was killed, shot in the back of the head, and the Afghan minister of defense was here the next day" to discuss custody of the shooter, Toolan said, speaking from his Regional Command-Southwest headquarters at Camp Leatherneck.[More....]

from jawareport
and from foxnews

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• New case of Afghan killing Marine (washingtontimes.com)
• Afghan Soldier Killed 22-Year-Old Marine Last Month In Previously Undisclosed Case (washington.cbslocal.com)
• R.I.P. - Lance Cpl. Edward J. Dycus (sgt-jim.blogspot.com)

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Helicopter crash kill 12 NATO soldiers in capital Kabul

A NATO-led International Security Assistance Force helicopter crashed into a house in capital Kabul on Friday.

According to security forces, at least 10 people on board and 2 peole on the ground were killed following the incident.

The helicopter crashed in Hussain Khel area at Bagrami district of capital Kabul around 10:00 am local time.

NATO-led International Security Assistance Force following a press release said, Twelve International Security Assistance Force service members died following a helicopter crash in Kabul province today.

ISAF confirmed the helicopter “went down” and said, Twelve International Security Assistance Force service members died following a helicopter crash in Kabul province today.

The cause of the crash is under investigation, however initial reporting indicates there was no enemy activity in the area at the time of the crash, ISAF said.

Kabul police chief Gen. Ayoub Salangi confirming the incident said, Afghan police and fire crew reached to the scene of the incident.

Gen. salangi further added, at least 5 people who were killed during the incident were taken out from the wreckage.

He also added, the victims were recongized as Turkish citizens.

from KHAAMA
---
ISAF release:
2012-03-C-017
For Immediate Release

KABUL, Afghanistan (Mar. 16) — Twelve International Security Assistance Force service members died following a helicopter crash in Kabul province today.

The cause of the crash is under investigation, however initial reporting indicates there was no enemy activity in the area at the time of the crash.

It is ISAF policy to defer casualty identification procedures to the relevant national authorities.

---

An Afghan Army medic soldier carries a body from the scene where a Turkish helicopter crashed on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, March 16, 2012. A Turkish military helicopter crashed into a house near the Afghan capital Friday, killing several Turkish soldiers on board and young girls on the ground, Turkish and Afghan officials said.

A part of a Turkish helicopter lies on the site of crash in Kabul March 16, 2012. The NATO helicopter crashed into a house on the outskirts of the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Friday, killing 12 Turkish soldiers on board and four Afghan civilians on the ground, Turkey's general staff and a senior Afghan police official said.

coffins of Turkish victims of a crashed NATO helicopter, in Kabul March 17 yfrog.com/bakh4gj

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• 12 NATO soldiers die in helicopter crash that also wipes out two young Afghan ... - Daily Mail (dailymail.co.uk)
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R.I.P. - Spc. Daquane D. Rivers

DOD Identifies Army Casualty

             The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
           
 Spc. Daquane D. Rivers, 21, of Marianna, Fla., died March 14, from injuries sustained in a non-combat related incident in Paktika province, Afghanistan.

             Rivers was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment, 172nd Infantry Brigade, Grafenwoehr, Germany.

              For more information related to this release, the media may contact U.S. Army Europe Public Affairs in Heidelberg, Germany at 011-49-6221-57-8628.

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Eritrea: Ethiopian Forces Raid Asmara's Bases

Cape Town — Ethiopian troops mounted a raid into neighbouring Eritrea on Thursday and claimed to have destroyed "three mercenary camps".

The Ethiopian Defense Force described the incursion as a "counter-attack" after the killing of foreign tourists in Ethiopia by "Eritrea's mercenaries," reports the Ethiopian News Agency (ENA).

Eritrea's foreign ministry responded by saying the Ethiopians had attacked Eritrean army outposts near the border between the two countries in a "provocative attack" which "seems to have [been] chosen to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the arbitral ruling of the Eritrea Ethiopia Boundary Commission."

The rulers of the two countries, once allies, have been in a tense stand-off for the last decade after falling out and fighting a border war between 1998 and 2000.

ENA quoted an Ethiopian army spokesman, Colonel Gebrekidan Gebremariam, as telling journalists that its forces had "successfully annihilated the destructive force of the Eritrean government" in the areas of Ramid, Gelahben and Gembe. He accused Eritrea of "activity bent on destabilizing the peace and security of Ethiopia."

Eritrea in turn accused Addis Ababa of "incessant acts of aggression...

for the last ten years" and of "illegal occupation of sovereign Eritrean territories..."

An Ethiopian foreign ministry spokesman, Dina Mufti, told the London Financial Times that its attack on Thursday was "a proportionate act, we are responding to what the Eritreans have done," the Times reported.


from allAfrica

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US drone strike kills 4 AQAP fighters

By Bill Roggio - March 15, 2012 - LWJ

US drones struck yet again in the Yemeni province of Al Baydah, according to a report from the country. The strike is the fourth in Yemen in the past week.

Yemeni security officials have told the Yemen Post that an unmanned Predator or more heavily armed Reaper struck a vehicle as it traveled in Al Baydah province yesterday, killing four al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula fighters. The strike took place just two hours after an AQAP suicide bomber killed four soldiers from the Republican Guards in an attack in the city of Al Baydah.

No senior AQAP leaders or operatives were reported killed in the strike. US military and intelligence officials contacted by The Long War Journal would neither confirm nor deny that yesterday's strike took place.

Yesterday's strike followed three other strikes in central and southern Yemen that have taken place since March 9.

The last strike occurred on March 11, when the unmanned warplanes killed three AQAP fighters in Jaar. The target of the strike was weapons seized by AQAP during last week's assault on a military base in Al Koud in neighboring Abyan province. In that assault, AQAP overran a Yemeni mechanized base in Al Koud, killing 185 troops, wounding over 150, and capturing at least 55 more.
On March 10, AQAP "hideouts" in Jaar were targeted; 10 AQAP fighters were reported to have been killed. And on March 9, the Predators and Reapers hit an AQAP hideout in a rural area near Al Baydah. Abdulwahhab al-Homaiqani, an AQAP commander in the city, and 16 of his fighters were reported to have been killed in the strike.

The CIA and the US military's Joint Special Operations Command are known to have carried out at least 21 air and missile strikes inside Yemen since December 2009, including yesterday's strike in Al Baydah. Other recent airstrikes are believed to have been carried out by the US also, but little evidence has emerged to directly link the attacks to the US. [For more information on the US airstrikes in Yemen, see LWJ report, Charting the data for US air strikes in Yemen, 2002 - 2012.]
Since the beginning of May 2011, the US is known to have carried out 15 airstrikes in Yemen. Five of those strikes have taken place so far in 2012, with four of those occurring in the last week.

The pace of the US airstrikes has increased as AQAP and its political front, Ansar al Sharia, have taken control of vast areas of southern Yemen. In Abyan, the cities of Al Koud, Ja'ar, and Shaqra are currently run by AQAP. The terror group also controls Azzan in Shabwa province. AQAP seized control of Rada'a in Al Baydah in January but later withdrew after negotiating a peace agreement with the local government.

Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2012/03/us_drone_strike_kill_2.php#ixzz1pIEGhvpY

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6 Afghan civilians killed in Uruzgan province 6 Afghan civilians killed in Uruzgan province

According to local authorites in southern Uruzgan province, at least 6 Afghan civilians were killed following a deadly roadside
bomb explosion in this province.

The incident took place on Thursday morning around 11 am local time at Dehrawood district in Siajoi area.

Local officials further added, the incident took place after a civilian vehicle struck with a roadside bomb.

Provincial police chief spokesman Farid Ayel said, the victims are all members of a single family.

At least 2 others including the driver of the vehicle and another passenger were injured during the incident.

This comes as eight Afghan civilians were killed followign a roadside bomb explosion at Marjah district of southern Helmand
province.

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

Local officials blame the Taliban group for such incidents as the Taliban fighters are frequently use improvised explosive device and roadside bombs as the weapon of their choice to target Afghan and coalition forces which normally leads to civilians casualties.

from KHAAMA

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Afghan dies in attempted attack near Panetta

ISAF Statement on U.S. Secretary of Defense Arrival in Afghanistan
   
KABUL, Afghanistan (Mar. 14, 2012) — ISAF is aware of a stolen vehicle incident today at Camp Bastion, which resulted in the injury of one coalition service member. The alleged perpetrator was apprehended by base security personnel. We are currently investigating to determine more facts.

This incident took place this afternoon around the same time U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta was arriving in Afghanistan. At no point was the Secretary or anyone on the aircraft in any danger from this incident.
---
An Afghan man who crashed a stolen truck at an airfield as U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta's plane was landing there died Thursday of extensive burns, a top U.S. general in Afghanistan said.

U.S. Lt. Gen. Curtis Scaparotti, the deputy commander of American forces in Afghanistan, told reporters traveling with Panetta in Kabul that the driver was an interpreter working for the foreign forces.

The man apparently had a container of fuel in the car, which ignited during the crash Wednesday at the British airfield in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan.

"There was a puff of smoke and he came out engulfed in flames," Scaparotti said. He said the truck was headed toward a group of U.S. Marines assembled at the ramp.

"My personal opinion, yes, he had an intent to do harm," Scaparotti said.

But he said he did not think the incident was related to Panetta's arrival because it would have been difficult to know which plane the defense secretary was aboard.

No one in Panetta's party was hurt. The defense secretary was told about the incident after he got off the aircraft.

Authorities were not able to talk to or get any information from the driver before he died.

A U.S. military official said a British soldier was injured when he tried to stop the driver from stealing the truck on the base. The Afghan man hit the British soldier with the truck as he was driving away.

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Swiss pair free after Taliban ordeal, Pakistan army says

A Swiss couple held hostage by the Pakistani Taliban are free after an eight-month ordeal, the army says.

The man and woman were kidnapped last July in Balochistan province.

They turned up at a military checkpoint in the North Waziristan tribal region near the Afghan border on Thursday, the army says.

Unconfirmed reports say the pair may have escaped from their captors, but it is not clear if a ransom was paid or they were part of a prisoner swap.

"The couple reported this morning at a military checkpoint in Tull area, just on the border with North Waziristan. They have now been flown to Peshawar in a helicopter," Pakistan's military said.

There is no word yet from the Swiss embassy in Islamabad.

The couple were last seen pleading for their lives in a militant video released in October.

They were abducted by unidentified gunmen from the Loralai area of Balochistan in July last year.

It is reported they were travelling by road from the town of Dera Ghazi Khan in Punjab province to the Balochistan capital, Quetta.

from BBC

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Mar.14., 2012. - ISAF Joint Command Evening Operational Update

KABUL, Afghanistan – An Afghan and coalition security force captured a Taliban leader and detained an additional suspected insurgent during an operation in Baghlan-e Jadid district, Baghlan province, today.

The leader directed roadside bombings and suicide attacks against Afghan and coalition troops throughout the district. He is also suspected in a kidnapping plot.

The security force also found and destroyed a motorcycle with 55 pounds (25 kilograms) of homemade explosives and multiple insurgent weapons.

In other International Security Assistance Force news throughout Afghanistan:

North

In Pashtun Kot district, Faryab province, an Afghan and coalition security force conducted an operation to capture a Taliban leader today. The leader coordinates large-scale insurgent attacks against Afghan and coalition security forces in the province, supervises Taliban finances, and distributes weapons and ammunition. The security force detained several suspected insurgents. They also found and destroyed multiple weapons and hand grenades.

South

An Afghan and coalition security force conducted an operation to capture a Taliban leader in Maiwand district, Kandahar province, today. The leader provides weapons and ammunition to insurgents throughout Kandahar province. He also directs attacks against Afghan and coalition security forces in Maiwand district. The security force detained multiple suspected insurgents as a result of this operation.

Finally, an Afghan and coalition security force captured a Taliban leader during an operation in Nahr-e Saraj district, Helmand province, today. The leader directed roadside bombings and other attacks against Afghan and coalition security forces throughout the province.

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Boko Haram sect has agreed to cease fire on two conditions

from allAfrica
By Bayo Oladeji, Muazu Abari, Midat Joseph, And Salisu Ibrahim

After years of frequent bomb attacks on security formations, religious houses and killings of innocent citizens within the northern states, the Boko Haram sect has agreed to cease fire on two conditions.

The group has named the president of the Supreme Council for Sharia in Nigeria, Sheik Ahmed Datti, as their mediator. It said the choice of Datti was based on the fact that its former leader, the late Mohammed Yusuf, served as a member that represented Borno State in the council of Sharia in Nigeria, the cleric could be trusted not to betray the confidence reposed in him to speak for the sect, a source close to the group told LEADERSHIP yesterday.

The source added that the group was ever ready to stop the bombings in the next four weeks only if the federal government would release all its arrested members as well as guarantee the security and safety of all members whose names would be given to the federal government through Datti.

The source said, "What the sect is asking the federal government now is to give them the assurance that once they come to the public after the hostilities, their safety and security would be guaranteed.

"The sect members have also agreed that once the two conditions are met, within four weeks, they will put an end to the hostilities. I am afraid, the members of the sect may resume to more action should the federal government fail to heed the conditions."

Army chiefs begin security meeting over sect

However, senior army officers made up of lieutenant generals, brigadier generals and colonels yesterday began a security meeting in Abuja mainly to smoke the Boko Haram sect out of its hidden places.

The programme is the maiden Nigerian Army Transformation Stakeholders' Conference with the theme, "Enhancing the Implementation Strategy for the Nigerian Army Transformation Agenda".

Chief of army staff Lieutenant General Azubike Ihejirika in his opening address said transformation is needed to enable the army adapt to the ever-changing security environment and better be able to deal with contemporary challenges.

He said about 2,000 troops are in Jaji and Kachia undergoing training on counter-terrorism and that monitoring forces have been set up to move around the country to monitor the conduct of troops on civil duty.

On the use of army uniforms by Boko Haram bombers for easy passage in their bombing campaigns, the chief of army staff said the problem has existed for long and called for a law that would outlaw its use by unauthorized persons.

This, he said, is more so as the army has no control over how they come into the country, especially with the porous nature of the country's borders. While describing last Sunday's Jos incident as unfortunate, he said all officers have been directed to subject themselves to searches. He called on prominent citizens to cooperate with soldiers by doing likewise.

He listed areas that require transformation to include change of attitude, de-politicization to professionalism, and modernization with a purpose, change of ideas rather than just modernization and adaptation to changing security environment.

read the full article here

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