War News for Friday, February 11, 2011

Reported security incidents

Kirkuk:
#1: Four Sahwa fighters were killed and three citizens were wounded during clashes over properties in south of Kirkuk, commander of the Kirkuk Districts Police Department (KDPD) said on Friday. “Problems over properties in al-Bashier village between Arabs and Turcomans, flared up armed clash between them on Friday (Feb. 11), during which four Sahwa fighters were killed and three Turcomans were wounded,” Brigadier Sarhad Qader told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “KDPD, police and army forces intervened to stop any deterioration in the situation,” he added, without giving further details.

Mosul:
#1: An Iraqi army soldier was wounded when an improvised explosive device (IED) blast targeted his patrol in northern Mosul city on Thursday, a military source said. “An IED blast took place near an Iraqi army patrol in al-Baladiyat neighborhood, northern Mosul, today (Feb.10), leaving a soldier wounded,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

Al Anbar Prv:
#1: Armed men using guns with silencers shot dead a mobile shop owner late on Thursday in central Falluja, 50 km (32 miles) west of Baghdad, police said.

Afghanistan: “The Forgotten War”
#1: Pakistan’s military said it had killed 11 militants in the Swat valley, raising fears that rebels are again infiltrating the one-time tourism hub. “Security forces foiled an attempt to disrupt peace in the Swat valley when they killed 11 terrorists overnight,” a military spokesman said. The spokesman said the fighters had fled Mohmand, a nearby tribal district where Pakistan is waging its latest air and ground offensive against homegrown Taliban blamed for near daily bomb attacks in the northwest.

#2: Separately, police in the town of Mardan said they had picked up five bodies from a field one day after a teenage suicide bomber dressed in school uniform killed 31 army recruits at a parade ground outside the town. A chit was attached to each body, listing the name and hometown of the deceased, and one scrap of paper said “long live Taliban Pakistan,” said local police officer Samad Khan.

#3: Four small blasts on railway tracks in southern Pakistan disrupted train service from the port city of Karachi to other parts of the country Friday morning, railway officials said. General Manager of Pakistan Railways, Muhammad Ashfaq Khattak, said that four blasts of low intensity partially damaged tracks in Karachi and three other places in interior Sindh, of which Karachi is the capital. Railway officials said that train services were suspended after rail tracks in Karachi, and two other main cities, Hyderabad and Nawabshah, were blown up with explosives. Two persons were injured in the blast which hit the railway track near the Baloch Colony bridge area of Karachi, reports and officials said. Train service to other parts of the country from Karachi was suspended. Railway tracks were also blown up in two bomb blasts near Hyderabad and the explosion took place in other main city Nawabshah.No one was hurt in these blasts. Explosions in all three cities occurred within minutes of each other and appear to be a coordinated attack, local media reported.

#4: Also late Thursday night, unidentified men fired rockets on a train in southwestern Balochistan province and injured its driver and damaging its engine, officials said.

DoD: Spc. Nathan B. Carse

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