Dec. 30., 2012. - ISAF Joint Command Operational Update

KABUL, Afghanistan – An Afghan and coalition security force arrested a Haqqani facilitator and detained one suspected insurgent, during an operation in Pul-e ‘Alam district, Logar province, Dec. 30.

The facilitator supplied weapons and improvised explosive device materials to insurgents operating in Pul-e ‘Alam district. He was involved in numerous rocket, IED and direct fire attacks against Afghan and coalition forces.

During the operation, the combined force also seized a number of Afghan National Army uniforms.

In other International Security Assistance Force news throughout Afghanistan:

South

An Afghan and coalition security force arrested two local Taliban leaders and detained one suspected insurgent during an operation in Spin Boldak district, Kandahar province, Dec. 29. The leaders provided improvised explosive device material to insurgents and conducted attacks in the district.

A Taliban leader in Now Zad district, Helmand province, was arrested Dec. 26 by an Afghan and coalition security force. The leader coordinated and conducted multiple direct fire and improvised explosive device attacks against Afghan and coalition forces. He also was involved in the kidnapping and execution of Afghan National Army soldiers. During the operation, the security force detained one suspected insurgent.

During an operation Dec. 27, in Panjwa’i district, Kandahar province, an Afghan and coalition security force arrested a Taliban leader who coordinated attacks against Afghan and coalition forces and provided weapons and ammunition to insurgents. At the time of his arrest, he was planning an improvised explosive device attack. The security force also detained one suspected insurgent as a result of the operation.

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Dec. 30., 2012. - RC-East operational update

BAGRAM, Afghanistan - Afghan and coalition forces killed one insurgent, detained one, located one weapons caches and cleared two improvised explosive devices during operations in eastern Afghanistan throughout the past 24 hours, Dec. 29.

Khowst province

Afghan National Army soldiers and coalition forces found and safely cleared one IED in Nadir Shah Kot district.

Afghan National Security Forces and coalition forces detained one insurgent during an engagement in Nadir Shah Kot district. The detained suspect was transferred to a base for questioning.

Laghman province

Afghan National Security Forces found and safely cleared one IED in Mehtar Lam district.

Logar province

Afghan National Army soldiers killed one insurgent during an engagement in Kharwar district.

Parwan province

Afghan National Security Forces and coalition forces discovered a weapons cache in Bagram district. The cache contained multiple rockets and grenades.

Operations in RC-East are ongoing.

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Missing Georgian Soldier in Afghanistan Found Dead

Sergeant Giorgi Kikadze, who served in the Helmand province of Afghanistan and who went missing on December 19, has been found dead, Georgian Defense Minister Irakli Alasania announced at a late-night press conference on Saturday.

He did not provide details about circumstances of Sergeant Kikadze’s death.

“Investigation has to be concluded and after it is over we will provide information about it to the public,” Alasania said.

Two days ago Alasania said the probability that the soldier was alive “is now higher and we have more reasons now to be optimistic that he will return back to his family.”

Speaking at the brief news conference on December 29 Alasania apologized to the family of Sergeant Kikadze for triggering inflated expectations.

This recent incident brings Georgian military death toll in Afghanistan to 19; eight of them died this year.

Georgia has almost doubled its contribution to NATO-led operations in Afghanistan in October to over 1,560 soldiers, becoming the largest non-NATO contributor to the ISAF operation.

Georgia currently has two battalions in the Helmand province of Afghanistan – 12th battalion of the first infantry brigade and 32nd battalion of the third infantry brigade; for the latter it is a second tour of duty in Afghanistan.

from civil.ge
Civil Georgia, Tbilisi / 29 Dec.'12 / 22:16

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19 killed, 25 injured in convoy attack in SW Pakistan

Security soldiers cordon off the blast site in southwest Pakistan's Mastung, Dec. 30, 2012.  (Xinhua/Iqbal Hussain)

ISLAMABAD, Dec. 30 (Xinhua) -- At least 19 people were killed and 25 others injured when a bomb hit a convoy of three buses carrying Shia pilgrims in Pakistan's southwest district of Mastung on Sunday morning, said an official.

Tufail Baloch, Deputy Commissioner of Mastung, said that the blast left 19 people dead and 25 others wounded.

Earlier local media reports said that the bus convoy was hit by a roadside bomb while on its way back from Iran to Quetta near Mastung, a district lying some 50 kilometers south of Quetta, capital of Balochistan province.

However, latest reports said that all the pilgrims were from Multan, a city in central Pakistan and they were on the way to Iran via Quetta.

The bus convoy was hit by an explosive-laden car instead of a roadside bomb, a driver of the bus convoy told local media.

The car rammed into one of the three buses, which carried 43 passengers on board, said the driver.

Fire erupted following the blast, he said, adding that one bus was completely destroyed, another was partially damaged and the third bus remained safe.

All the injured have been shifted to a civil hospital in Mastung where some of the seriously wounded have been referred to hospital in Quetta, said rescue workers.

Many suffered serious burn injuries, said hospital sources.

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari issued a statement and strongly condemned the attack.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, which apparently targeted the Shia Muslims.



more photos from XINHUA here
 
from XINHUA
2012-12-30 14:51:18
Editor: Hou Qiang

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Twenty-one kidnapped Levies killed by Pakistani Taliban

PESHAWAR: Pakistani Taliban executed twenty one of the 23 Levies personnel kidnapped earlier this week, police sources told DawnNews in wee hours of Sunday.

The political administration of Frontier Region (FR) Peshawar have confirmed that 21 Levies officials were shot dead by the militant group in a cricket ground near Peshawar’s Jan-e-Khawarr area.

Meanwhile, one kidnapped official who survived the ordeal has been transferred to Lady Reading Hospital in critical condition while another reached home safely after managing to escape from captivity.

On Thursday, 23 personnel were kidnapped after an attack on two levies posts by militants in the Frontier Region Peshawar, police said. The attackers were wearing security forces’ uniforms and were armed with rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons, sources added. Two policemen were also killed in the attacks.

Later, a Taliban spokesman for Dara Adamkhel, Mohammad Afridi, had told Dawn newspaper by phone that his group had carried out the attack.

Afridi had claimed that eight personnel had been killed and 23 had been kidnapped.

The government was seeking local tribal elders’ help to rescue the kidnapped officials and a local Jirga was conducting dialogues with the militant group. However, the talks did not succeed.

from DAWN
by DAWN.COM and Zahir Shah Sherazi | 43 mins ago

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U.S. drone strike kills 3 al-Qaida suspects in central Yemen

SANAA, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- A U.S. drone strike killed at least three suspected operatives of the al-Qaida wing in Yemen's central province of al-Bayda on Saturday night, a provincial security official told Xinhua.

"The U.S. unmanned aircraft targeted a group of suspected al- Qaida members onboard a four-wheel vehicle on a remote road between the villages of Khabra and Manasih, killing three of them and injuring the other one," the official told Xinhua by phone on condition of anonymity.

"The dead included Saleh al-Ameri who is believed to be a local leader of the terrorist group in the area," the official said.

Al-Bayda province, about 267 km southeast of the capital Sanaa, was the scene of deadly battles between the army and al-Qaida militants earlier last year.

The fresh airstrike was the fourth of its kind in less than a week against suspected members of the Yemen-based al-Qaida wing, according to Yemeni security officials.

The previous three air raids targeted the militants in Shaher town of the southeastern province of Hadramout, leaving at least seven al-Qaida suspects dead and injuring several others.

The escalation in airstrikes came simultaneously with a newly released video tape earlier this week by al-Qaida militants, in which the terrorist group incited for more attacks against U.S. missions in Yemen.

"We, al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), in order to inspire for jihad and to encourage our Muslim Ummah, announce a reward of 3,000 grams of gold to whoever kills the U.S. ambassador in Sanaa," the militants said in the video message, which was posted on Jihadi websites last Sunday.

"And 5 million Yemeni Riyals to whoever kills any American soldier in Yemen," they said in the 43-minute video tape which was obtained by Xinhua.

The militants also carried out a series of deadly attacks and assassinations against Yemeni security and intelligence personnel in several provinces, including the capital Sanaa.

The United States has beefed up anti-terror cooperation with Sanaa government since Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi took office in February, after a year of political upheaval that allowed the militants to capture several cities in Yemen's south.

from XINHUA
2012-12-30 02:29:22

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Clash continues on Jalalabad-Torkham road

Districts of Nangarhar Province. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

JALALABAD (PAN): Armed insurgents attacked a convoy of trucks carrying logistic supplies for foreign troops in the Batikot district of eastern Nangarhar province, sparking a fierce gun-battle with Afghan security forces, an official said on Saturday.

The clash has stopped traffic on the Torkham-Jalalabad highway since noon at the third farm area near the Pakistani border, the town's administrative chief, Mirza Mohammad Nusrat, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

Witness Nabidullah said a severe clash was ongoing in the area, with both sides suffering casualties. The resident had no figures for  causalities.

from Pajhwok
By Mahbob Shah Mahbob Dec 29, 2012 - 14:53

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US drones kill 2 AQAP fighters in eastern Yemen

map Evan Centanni (www.polgeonow.com)

By Bill Roggio - December 28, 2012 - LWJ

US drones struck for the third time in Yemen in five days, killing two al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula fighters in an attack in eastern Yemen today.
The remotely piloted Predators or the more deadly Reapers fired missiles at a group of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula fighters as they were traveling on motorcycles in the town of Shehr in Hadramout province, according to Reuters. Two AQAP fighters are thought to have been killed; their identities were not disclosed, however.

Today's strike is the second in Shehr in five days. On Dec. 24, US drones killed five AQAP fighters as they also were traveling on motorcycles in the town. A Yemeni jihadist later identified two of the five fighters killed as Abdullah Bawazir and Nabil al Kaldi. Both men had escaped from a prison in Mukallah in Hadramout in June 2011.

Also on Dec. 24, US drones killed a Jordanian and a Yemeni AQAP fighter in a strike in Rada'a in Baydah province. The Yemeni was identified as Abdullah Hussein al Waeli; he also escaped from a prison two years ago.
Hadramout is the ancestral home of Osama bin Laden's family, and the province has become an AQAP bastion over the past several years.

The US has stepped up drone strikes against AQAP in Hadramout this year. Prior to May, there were zero US drone strikes in the province. Since mid-May, the US launched seven attacks in Hadramout. Seven of the 41 drone strikes in Yemen this year, or 17%, have taken place in the province.

The Yemeni military claimed that Said al Shihri, AQAP's deputy emir and a former Guantanamo Bay detainee, was killed in a drone strike in Hadramout on Sept. 5. But al Shihri later denied the reports of his death.

Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2012/12/us_drones_kill_2_aqa.php#ixzz2GR74W1fS

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Dec. 29., 2012. - RC-East operational update

BAGRAM, Afghanistan - Afghan and coalition forces detained three insurgents during operations in eastern Afghanistan throughout the past 24 hours, Dec. 28.

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

Operations in RC-East are ongoing.

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Nigeria: Gunmen Kill 25 in Adamawa, Borno

No fewer than 25 people were allegedly killed Friday in separate attacks in Maiha Local Government Area of Adamawa State and Musari area of Borno State by unknown gunmen suspected to be members of the Islamic religious sect, Boko Haram.

The attacks which came as people were almost celebrating a stress free Yuletide led to 20 deaths in Maiha where the terrorists also attacked offices and lodges of the Customs and residents as well as the Divisional Police Headquarters, which they set ablaze.

However, out of the 35 inmates freed by the attackers from the Maiha prison, the police said have re-arrested 11.

The terrorists entered a Musari within the hours of 1 am and 3 am and surreptitiously killed five people in their houses.

Police Public Relations Officer in Yola, DSP, Mohammed Ibrahim confirmed that the attackers burnt down the customs office, District Head office, a car belonging to the Divisional Police Officer and several residential houses in the town.

Mohammed further disclosed that a guest in the local government Presidential Lodge was killed and a police officer also killed at the Divisional Police Station.

The Adamawa State police commissioner, Mr Godfrey Okeke confirmed the incident, but declined to make further comment regarding the attacks in Maiha.

However, Hamman Jelani, an eyewitness told ThisDay that the gunmen came from the mountainous area of Maiha and set the prison inmates free.

He said the came with heavy weapons and fired some gunshots before attacking the Divisional Police Headquarters and the prison. "The attackers also made away with various arms and ammunition."

According to sources, the attackers subsequently proceeded to the Local Government Education Authority complex, which they ransacked and set ablaze.

A resident of the area, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the people of Maiha were shell-shocked in the wee hours of the night as cries were heard from homes.

According to him, many were crying for help without any coming their way "as everyone knew not where the danger was coming from and they were equally apprehensive of the fact that they may walk into the hands of assailants."

He said the attack could have gone on till daybreak if not for the intervention of the men of the Joint Task Force who engaged the militants in a gun battle and drove them back.

Confirming the attack, the spokesperson of the JTF in Borno State, Lt. Col. Sagir Musa said:" Information revealed that some terrorists sneaked into Musari, a village located on the outskirts of Maiduguri and secretly carried out selective killings of five people including a serving Nigerian Police Traffic Warden.

"The Joint Task Force troops responded to the distress call, arrested three suspected assailants and recovered one AK 47 Rifle with ten rounds of 7.62mm ammunition."

from allAfrica/This Day Live
By Daji Sani and Michael Olugbode, 29 December 2012

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