Stay Angry
Posted on 08/25/2005 11:35:59 PM PDT by Straight Vermonter
KABUL, Afghanistan U.S.-led coalition aircraft and ground troops as well as Afghan forces battled suspected Taliban rebels in three separate firefights in southern Afghanistan, killing at least 10 militants, the U.S. military said today.
The most recent fighting occurred today in Kandahar province after a joint U.S.-Afghan patrol spotted a rebel observation post, a military statement said. A-10 warplanes and attack helicopters were called in, killing five suspected militants, it said.
On Wednesday in neighboring Uruzgan province, coalition aircraft killed five alleged insurgents after a firefight with troops on the ground, the statement said. Two suspected guerrillas were detained.
In a separate battle Wednesday, near the border between Uruzgan and Kandahar, a B-52 bomber and A-10 aircraft bombarded an unknown number of militants after they were seen carrying weapons.
The coalition and Afghan forces suffered no casualties in any of the battles, it said.
The statement also confirmed the deaths of six alleged rebels Tuesday. Afghan officials had earlier reported the deaths in a battle in Zabul province.
The military said the six were killed after being spotted burying bombs on a roadside. A search of the area uncovered two bombs, six AK-47 assault rifles and two anti-tank mines.
On Sunday, four U.S. soldiers were killed in the region when an anti-tank mine buried under a gravel road blew up under their armored Humvee.
The military said the offensives were part of an operation called Vigilant Sentinel designed to safeguard landmark legislative elections on Sept. 18. U.S. and Afghan officials have warned that the Taliban are intent on subverting the polls and violence may increase in the next few weeks.
The militants targeted in the West Bank raid were suspected of involvement in a July 12 suicide bombing in Netanya that killed four Israelis, the Israel Defense Forces said.
The IDF said soldiers went to the house Wednesday after receiving information that Islamic Jihad militants were staying there. The IDF said its troops were fired on by those inside and that they returned fire, hitting five people.
More..
MOSUL, Iraq With a name like Task Force Ripper, the mission would seem to be some sort of bloody, covert operation that strikes fear into the hearts of enemy forces in Iraq. The Germany-based 94th Engineer Combat Battalion (Heavy) mission named for rapid pothole repair, or RPR does take place under the cover of night, but the purpose is to save lives, not take them.
About 10 soldiers from the battalion, along with other soldiers who provide security at the sites, go out into Mosul several times a week to rob insurgents of hiding places for roadside bombs. The battalion's companies A and B and Headquarters Support Company run the missions. The crews patch potholes and, in some instances, craters left from roadside or car bomb blasts to prevent the same hole from being used for another bomb a common practice among insurgents.
"We've gotten some intelligence that the [insurgents] are not happy, because we are doing this and making their job a lot harder", said 1st Lt. Young Chun, 2nd Platoon leader, Company B, 94th Engineers. Maneuver units that conduct patrols in the city let the engineers know about holes that need to be repaired.A team from the 94th Engineers goes out to look at the size of the hole, and the next night the crew arrives to patch it. They put civilian road crews to shame, finishing their work in about 60 to 90 minutes for each hole.
"It's a lot of hard work", said Staff Sgt. Ubaldo Hernandez, of Company B. "We're kind of like a NASCAR pit crew. It's fast and nonstop until it's done".
"We don't want to be at the sites very long, especially when we know that the hole we're filling was made by [a roadside bomb]", said Spc. Christopher Eastman, also of Company B. Using Humvee headlights to see what they are doing, they use a wet saw to cut out an even amount of pavement around the hole. The saw, a machine that is pushed like a lawn mower, holds a container of water that wets the blade to make the task easier. Next, the crew breaks up the large pieces of pavement with a jackhammer and cleans the debris from the hole. They put gravel and wire mesh in the hole to give the cement something to adhere to. The concrete is mixed in a cement module that takes the ingredients: sand, stone, cement and water, along with a calcium chloride drying accelerant and mixes only what is needed for the job.
<>"We have control over how much we pour, because the module doesn't mix all of the ingredients together at once", said Spc. Michael Culver, of Headquarters Support Company.Finally, they pour the cement and wait about 20 minutes for the cement to harden to the touch before moving on to the next one.
By morning, when the curfew ends in Mosul, the cement is hard enough for cars to drive on.
"The accelerant weakens the concrete and breaks down the [reinforcing bar], but this is not a permanent fix", said Spc. Allan Annaert, of Headquarters Support Company. "It will last at least a couple of years."
Patching potholes in the middle of the night may not be the most enviable job in the world, but the soldiers know it is an important one.
"We're helping the [patrol units] out, so that there are less places for people to hide [bombs]," said Spc. Justin Miller, of Company B. "It's keeping them safer, so it's also keeping us safer."
Four militants of Hizbul Mujahideen, including two Pakistani nationals, were killed in separate encounters in Jammu and Kashmir, where security forces recovered a huge cache of arms and explosives from different hideouts since last night, a police spokesman said today.
Acting on specific information, security forces laid a cordon around Tangmarg-Woto village in south Kashmir's Anantnag district early today to flush out hiding ultras.
The militants opened fire and in the ensuing gunbattle, two Hizbul Mujahideen militants, identified as Iqbal Gill alias Salauddin Ayoubi Bihari of Pakistan and his local accomplice Bashir Ahmad Rather, were killed, the spokesman said.
Two AK assault rifles, eight magazines, 54 rounds and six grenades were recovered from the deceased militants, he said.
In another search operation, the spokesman said security forces killed two more Hizbul Mujahideen militants, including a Pakistani national Rizwan, in an encounter at Pudr forest in Keller area of south Kashmir's Pulwama district this afternoon.
The operation in the area was still continuing and further details are awaited, he said.
Security forces during a search operation at Bagla-Sherpur forest in Peer Badesar area of Rajouri district came across a natural cave type hideout yesterday afternoon and its search led to the recovery of two bags filled with weapons and explosives.
The recoveries included two AK rifles with 382 rounds, 14 UBGL grenades, 15 Chinese hand grenades, five Improvised Explosive Devices, five IED batteries, one kg RDX, 12 detonators, three meters of cordex wire and 41 rounds of universal machine gun, the spokesman said. Security forces recovered a hand grenade and two wireless sets from the house of one Ghulam Mohiuddin Sheikh at Handwara in Kupwara district last night, the spokesman said.
The house owner was taken into custody for questioning in connection with the recovery.
Security forces recovered a hand grenade, two UBGL shells and 646 rounds of ammunition from a jungle hideout in Koll-Shikargah area of Tral in Pulwama district last night, the spokesman said.
He said police, on a tip off, recovered an AK rifle, 99 rounds and seven kgs of explosives from Chatta farm in Jammu district today.
However, no one was arrested during the operation, the spokesman added.
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Four other individuals suspected of terrorist activity were detained by soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Armored Cavalry Regiment, during separate operations south of Tall Ath Thawr and in Rawah on Aug. 24.
In Baghdad, Iraqi security forces responded to two separate incidents where police and civilians were attacked by anti-Iraq forces on Aug. 24, according to a multinational forces report.
Soldiers with 4th Battalion, 1st Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, tracked and killed two of the attackers and captured another suspect, who had attacked a Baghdad police station with small-arms fire.
In another incident, insurgents armed with rocket-propelled grenades attacked an Iraqi policeman and a civilian in their vehicles. Iraqi police pursued those suspects, killing one attacker.
Iraqi soldiers with 1st Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 2nd Iraqi Army Division, uncovered a 152 mm artillery shell beneath a dirt mound in Mosul.
In a related incident, Iraqi soldiers found 14 artillery rounds one kilometer northwest of the Kirkuk traffic circle.
Coalition aircraft reported flying 52 close-air support and armed reconnaissance sorties on Aug. 24 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom ground troops.
Earlier in the month, Iraqi security forces and Task Force Baghdad soldiers captured a suspected bomb emplacer, three suspected kidnappers and six other terror suspects in a series of combat operations carried out Aug. 20, officials reported.
All 10 suspects were thought to be involved in planning and carrying out numerous attacks against Iraqi civilians, Iraqi security forces and Task Force Baghdad soldiers.
Combined forces from the Iraqi 2nd Public Order Brigade and U.S. soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, worked together to catch a terror suspect preparing to use an improvised explosive device in east Baghdad.
Acting on a tip from an Iraqi citizen, the combined force apprehended the suspect at his house. A search there uncovered a 155 mm artillery shell, TNT, bomb-making materials, detonators, AK-47 assault rifles, a pistol and anti-coalition propaganda.
Acting on another tip, Task Force Baghdad soldiers took three kidnapping suspects into custody for questioning while searching two houses in south Baghdad.
Later, terrorists fired mortar rounds at an installation in south Baghdad. Soldiers on the post responded quickly and saw a white bongo truck fleeing the site where the attack originated. A patrol followed the truck to a house in southwest Baghdad and captured four attackers.
When the soldiers seized two AK-47s, a sub-machine gun and 1,000 rounds of ammunition.
Later, soldiers from the 126th Military Police Company patrolling in the Ghazaliyah district of west Baghdad saw a man firing a weapon out of his vehicle. The MPs stopped and searched the vehicle, and found three fake identification cards, two pistols, two license plates and ammunition. The suspect was taken into custody for questioning.
Coalition forces also raided another terrorist safe house and detained a man believed to be the leader of a terror cell operating in southeast Baghdad.
Based on information provided by an informant, a drug dealer with ties to the insurgency was captured during a U.S. raid in the Taji area on Aug. 7, officials reported Aug 23.
Soldiers from B Company, 1st Battalion, 115th Infantry Regiment, raided three houses based on an Iraqi citizen's tip. The soldiers are assigned to 1st Battalion, 118th Field Artillery, 3rd Brigade, 1st Armored Division.
U.S. troops found drug paraphernalia and large quantities of narcotics in the first home they searched. Soldiers also found anti-Iraqi forces propaganda in the other two homes and detained two additional men for their suspected participation in terrorist activities.
"Local citizens pointed out someone suspicious to us because they didn't want drug dealers and terrorists in their neighborhood," said Col. David Bishop, commander of the 3rd Brigade, 1st Armored Division.
(Compiled from Multinational Force Iraq, U.S. Central Command Air Forces Forward, and Task Force Baghdad news releases.)
| Terrorist Scorecard | |
| The Iraqi "Deck of Cards" Scoreboard | |
| Centcom's New Iraq Scorecard | |
| Saudi Arabia's Most Wanted Scorecard | |
| Saudi Arabia's New Most Wanted Scorecard | |
| The Round-up Blog | |
|
Good Morning
Thanks for posting this. Great info.
I always love hearing about Israeli soldiers so accurate when they return fire... perhaps they one of the most deadly soldiers when it comes to counter-attack.
Thanks for the Info.. God Bless.
Thanks SV for all you do to keep us informed.
:-)
Good Morning to you, too!
Thanks SV. Interesting articles.
Lots and lots of dead bad guys. Gotta luv it! Two thumbs up for those on the front lines, keeping the rest of us safe.
Good Morning
In a separate battle Wednesday, near the border between Uruzgan and Kandahar, a B-52 bomber and A-10 aircraft bombarded an unknown number of militants after they were seen carrying weapons.
U.S. says 16 militants killed in Afghan fighting
http://in.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2005-08-25T135313Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_India-213890-1.xml
KABUL (Reuters) - U.S. and Afghan forces backed by a giant B-52 bomber, A-10 attack aircraft and helicopters killed an estimated 16 militants in southern Afghanistan in the past two days, the U.S. military said on Thursday.
The militants were killed on Tuesday and Wednesday during an operation codenamed Vigilant Sentinel aimed at ensuring security for Sept. 18 parliamentary and provincial council elections.
The U.S. military said six militants were were killed on Tuesday after Afghan and U.S.forces saw them planting improvised explosive devices in Shinkay district of Zabul province.
An Afghan and U.S. patrol also pinned down another group of militants southeast of the town of Tarin Kot and called in a B-52 bomber, A-10 attack aircraft and attack helicopters, it said, adding that casualties there were being assessed.
In other incidents on Wednesday, five militants were killed by aircraft and ground fire northeast of Tarin Kot five more in Kandahar province, the statement said, adding that there were no U.S. casualties or damage in any of the incidents.
About 30,000 U.S.-led and NATO troops are in Afghanistan to protect the elections, the last phase of a plan for political development agreed by Afghan factions and the international community after the Taliban were overthrown in 2001.
About 1,000 people, most of them Taliban guerrillas, have been killed in clashes, ambushes and blasts this year, most of them militants.
The U.S. military said this week it had killed 105 militants in a series of clashes over recent weeks in Zabul and the eastern province of Kunar.
U.S. forces have suffered 47 deaths in combat in Afghanistan this year, their worst casualty rate in the country since arriving in late 2001 to force the Taliban from power.
Despite the violence, Afghan government and U.S. officials say the vote will not be disrupted.
That is what happens after they get pounded by a B-52. It's kind of hard to count what is left.
The pot hole story was very interesting...I guess because we don't think about certain jobs being done and without credit by soldiers in order to help fellow soldiers.
Kudos for this group of soldiers!
I wonder how many pieces of Islamo fascsist meat it takes to make a body?
Good morining indeed. Great job to you and especially to the trrops doin' the chillin'.
Could you elaborate?
Click the picture to get the story.
Oh sorry, didn't notice it was a linked photo.
I don't usually do that type of story but I thought it was cool that such a low tech job could thwart this low tech enemy.
You gotta choose one part like...say the left ear. You count all of those that you find and then you get a rough body count. LOL
Yeah, I think that's why it was so interesting...not the usual type of story but it shows that every job is important.
Thanks for all you do Straight Vermonter! I read your posts almost every day. And I actually do a mental count of how many DEAD terrorists as I go through the articles you list. Doesn't take much to make me happy! ha!
Ain't it the truth. Fingers here. ears there, Isloma meat everywhere. Gotta love it.
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