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Afghanistan

Pakistani, US troops exchange fire

2008-09-25

PAKISTANI and US troops exchanged fire along the Pakistani-Afghan border overnight after two US military helicopters came under fire, a US military spokesman said. Rear Admiral Gregory Smith said Pakistani soldiers at a border checkpoint were seen firing on two US OH-58 Kiowa helicopters covering a patrol of Afghan and US troops about 2km inside Afghanistan. "The ground forces then fired into the hillside nearby that checkpoint, gained their attention, which worked,'' Rear Admiral Smith said. "Unfortunately, though, the Pak unit decided to shoot down a hillside at our ground forces. Our ground forces returned fire.'' Rear Admiral Smith, a spokesman for the US Central Command, said no one on either side was hit in the exchange, which occurred in late afternoon, and the helicopters never fired any rounds. "The whole thing lasted about five minutes,'' he said. "It all ended quickly.'' The Pakistani military said its troops had fired warning shots at two helicopters which were "well within Pakistani territory". But Rear Admiral Smith and Pentagon officials said the helicopters were in Afghan air space. The ground unit that spotted the Pakistanis firing at the helicopters consisted of a small US training team embedded with an Afghan border police unit, he said. But at the United Nations in New York today, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari said Pakistan's military was firing "flares" to warn the helicopters about the location of the border with Afghanistan. Mr Zardari, who was beginning a meeting with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, contradicted the accounts that the US helicopters had come under small arms fire inside Afghan territory. "You mean the flares," he replied when asked about the US accounts, adding the flares were "to make sure that they know that they have crossed the border line". Sometimes the border is so mixed that they don't realise they have crossed the border," said Mr Zardari, seated opposite Dr Rice in a luxury hotel. As reporters filed out of the room, Dr Rice told Mr Zardari: "The border is very, very unclear, I know." Later, Mr Zardari told the UN General Assembly that Pakistan would not allow its sovereignty to be violated by its allies. "Just as we will not let Pakistani's territory to be used by terrorists for attacks against our people and our neighbours, we cannot allow our territory and our sovereignty to be violated by our friends," he said.

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Iraq

7 killed as Shia militants clash with Iraqi police

2008-03-17

Fierce clashes broke out on Sunday between Shia militants and Iraqi police in the restive province of Diyala, in which at least seven people were killed, a local police officer said. The fighters loyal to radical cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr clashed with police in the villages of Kharnabat and Al-Huwaidar, north of Baquba, the provincial capital, said Lieutenant Colonel Najim Al-Sumaidaie from Baquba police. He said five militants from Sadr’s Mahdi Army militia and two policemen were killed in the clashes. The fighting follows similar clashes between Mahdi Army militiamen and Iraqi police and troops this week in the central Iraqi city of Kut in which at least 19 people were killed. Sadr has ordered his militiamen to observe a ceasefire he declared late August and renewed on February 22, but admits there are splits in his movement. Though the young cleric, earlier this month, announced he would spend more time on his religious studies, his aides have said he remains in overall control of his militia and has not withdrawn from the political scene. US military commanders refer to Mahdi Army fighters refusing to lay down their arms as “rogue elements”, some of whom they say have crossed into Iran for training. US military spokesman Rear Admiral Gregory Smith on Sunday said the fighting in Kut was localised. “In most instances these are local groups which are having their differences, which are being dealt with through violence,” Smith told a news conference. “It is limited. It is on a limited scale. The security forces have for the most part dealt with the violence. We do not view it as a widespread issue of concern outside Kut.” In other violence on Sunday, one person was killed when a car bomb in Baghdad’s western Mansur neighbourhood targeted a convoy of four-wheel drive vehicles usually used by private security contractors, an Interior Ministry official said.

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Iraq

More Roggio Analysis of Special Groups (& Hasnawi)

2008-02-18

Pressure on Sadr and the Iranian-backed Special Groups continues By Bill RoggioFebruary 18, 2008 2:49 AM As previously reported at The Long War Journal, US and Iraqi forces have stepped up operations against the Iranian-backed and Mahdi Army-linked Special Groups terror cells. The increase in activity comes as Muqtada al Sadr is deliberating the reinstatement or cancellation of the self-imposed cease-fire. Since the last report, the US military has singled out a former Mahdi Army commander as being behind violence in northern Baghdad while a senior spokesman said Iran is still supporting terror operations in Iraq. "The intent of Iran in supporting the training and financing [the Special Groups] we believe continues," said Rear Admiral Gregory Smith, the director of Multinational Forces Iraq's Communication Division. "In just the past week, Iraqi and coalition forces captured 212 weapons caches across Iraq, two of those coming from here inside Baghdad, with growing links to the Iranian-backed special groups." A look at the press releases from Multinational Forces Iraq's website shows the command has stepped up operations to counter the Special Groups. Eight operations were reported against the terror cells in the three-day period from Feb. 12 to Feb. 14. Ten encounters were reported from Feb. 15 to Feb. 17. Several of the engagements, including a major clash between police and a Special Groups platoon, involved Iraqi security forces: (snip. You've also read them here.) Several of the press releases ended with the standard warning to Sadr and his Mahdi Army. "We will continue to disrupt the networks of those who choose not to obey al-Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr’s ceasefire pledge. ... The people of Iraq have made it clear that they will not tolerate the criminal activities of these splinter groups." The US military is warning Sadr that ending the cease-fire will result in operations designed to dismantle the Mahdi Army. Read the rest.

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Iraq

Al Qaeda using children as Iraq suicide bombers

2008-01-28

Al Qaeda is using children as suicide bombers in Iraq, with at least two attacks in the past week committed by 15-year-olds, a US military commander claimed. Picked right up on that, didn't they? Once the military pointed it out to them... "We are not sure whether one of these children even knew he was being used to deliver a bomb," Rear Admiral Gregory Smith said. [KABOOM!] "Surprise!" One attack was carried out at a funeral ceremony near Tikrit, executed dictator Saddam Hussein's home town 180 kilometres north of Baghdad and the other was at a school in the northern city of Mosul, Rear Admiral Smith said. He gave no details of the two bombings. Necessary details: Krowd. Kid. Kaboom. What else do you kneed? Iraqi police said 17 people died in a January 21 suicide blast at the funeral ceremony near Tikrit for relatives of an Iraqi police colonel. "Al Qaeda in Iraq is trying to brainwash children with hate and death... they seek to create a culture of violence, hate and despair," he said. "[They] are sending 15-year-old boys on suicide missions to spread death and helplessness." Rear Admiral Smith quoted Sheikh Ahmed Abu Reesha, leader of the "Anbar Awakening" that has ended much of Al Qaeda's hold over western Iraq, as saying that the jihadists were using suicide bombers as a last resort. "When we attack Al Qaeda they flee, hide and come back with new tactics. The only tactic that is left for them now is to commit suicide," he quoted the sheikh as saying. Ninety per cent of "suicide murders inflicted on Iraqi people are committed by foreign fighters brought in by Al Qaeda in Iraq to spread destruction," he said.

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Iraq

US says warplanes pound Al-Qaeda in Iraq targets

2008-01-22

US warplanes overnight pounded suspected Al-Qaeda havens on the southern edge of Baghdad for the third time this month, hitting more than 30 targets in a 35-bomb blitz, the military said on Monday. The mainly Sunni Arab Jabour rural area was hit with bombs weighing a total of 19,000 pounds (9,000 kilogrammes) during the air raids, which aimed to destroy roadside bombs and arms caches, a military statement said. The operation Sunday night involved precision air strikes by air force, navy and marine F-18 fighter jets and B-1 bombers, it added. "The strikes that we conducted were focused on IEDs (bombs) and caches that we have targeted, that will allow us to get our ground troops further into the zone," military commander Colonel Terry Ferrell said. "These targets, the IEDs specifically, are designed as part of the defensive belt to prevent our forces from entering into areas that we have not been before." The raid follows air strikes in the Arab Jabour area on January 10 and January 16 in which, according to the statement, "a combined total of 99 targets has been hit, with a total weight of 99,000 pounds of bombs." The raid was part of Operation Phantom Phoenix, an assault by Iraqi and US forces launched January 8 against Al-Qaeda in Iraq strongholds across the country. US military spokesman Rear Admiral Gregory Smith told a news conference in Baghdad on Sunday that 1,023 suspected extremists had been arrested and 121 killed since the assault was launched. The United States has not released casualty figures from any of three air raids but a leader of an anti-Qaeda "Awakening" front in Arab Jabour said at least 21 suspected Al-Qaeda fighters were killed in the January 10 strike.

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Iraq

US opens personnel files on al-Qaeda recruits

2008-01-22

The photograph shows a young man sporting a red-and-white chequered head-dress, a wispy beard and a zealot's eyes. Majed Hamoud Mubarak al-Harithy, a 23-year-old student from the Saudi Arabian city of Mecca, was smuggled into Iraq from Syria sometime before August 2007. He was carrying a passport, 252 Saudi riyals (£35) and US$101, and was eager to become a “martyr”. Al-Harithy has almost certainly achieved his goal by now. Al-Qaeda, the group he reported to, carried out more than 4,500 attacks against Iraqi civilians last year, killing 3,870 people and wounding nearly 18,000, according to figures just released by the US military in Baghdad. It also claimed that 90 per cent of al-Qaeda's suicide-bombers were foreigners like al-Harithy. Rear Admiral Gregory Smith, a spokesman, said that the US military had gained a much better understanding of the terrorists it was fighting thanks to a treasure trove of biographical records that US troops discovered during a pre-dawn raid on some tents pitched near the town of Sinjar, on the Syrian border, last October.

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Iraq

Al Qaeda establishes "a haven in Diyala"

2008-01-04

This is Bill Roggio's analysis from a few days ago; his thesis was borne out by the cross-dressing suicide squeegee man who took out part of the Diyala Awakening Council leadership on Wednesday. This is an excerpt; follow the link for the full posting: With al Qaeda in Iraq's bases of operations dismantled in the central Baghdad regions, Diyala province has emerged as the primary battleground between Iraqi and Coalition forces and the terror group. As the concurrent combat operations against al Qaeda in Baghdad and the Belts regions peaked during the summer and fall, al Qaeda in Iraq attempted to re-establish its bases in the northern provinces of Salahadin, Ninewa, Tamin, and Diyala. In the region northeast of Miqdadiyah, al Qaeda in Iraq has gains some traction. Al Qaeda's attempts to reform in Ninewa have largely been blunted as the group is short of funds and its leadership fractured, Major General Mark Hertling, the commander of Multinational Division North said in a recent interview with Voices of Iraq. "Al Qaeda suffered fund shortage and posed no big danger in Ninewa after [the] killing and arresting a number of its financiers [by US and Iraqi forces]," Hertling said. "The armed groups activating in the provinces worked without funds, after their field financiers escaped with money, causing a splinter in the organization." US and Iraqi security forces launched Operation Iron Reaper in the north on Dec. 3 in an effort to keep al Qaeda in Iraq from reestablishing its command and control and bases of operation in the region. The rapid expansion of Concerned Local Citizen groups in Ninewa, Salahadin, and Tamin provinces has also helped keep al Qaeda in Iraq from fully regrouping in the North. But Diyala province has emerged as one of the most dangerous regions in Iraq, Rear Admiral Gregory Smith, the director of communications for Multinational Forces Iraq said today in a press briefing in Baghdad. Al Qaeda in Iraq has "found a haven in Diyala," Smith noted. The Concerned Local Citizen and Awakening movements, the tribal groups and former insurgents that have banded together to fight al Qaeda in Iraq, will be a primary force against al Qaeda in Iraq in Diyala province.

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Iraq

US to control growth of Iraq neighbourhood patrols

2007-12-01

BAGHDAD - The US military will carefully manage the growth of neighbourhood police units credited with helping to curb violence in Iraq, aiming ultimately to move many into public work roles, a spokesman said on Thursday. Rear Admiral Gregory Smith said about 60,000 Iraqis had been trained and were manning “concerned local citizens” checkpoints in their own communities and being paid by the US military. Smith said the programme would be allowed to grow by another 10-15 percent, although there was no absolute cap on the number. “It’s a general guidance, not a final ceiling,” he said. “We have been looking at making certain that we have a measured approach as we move into 2008,” Smith said in a telephone interview. The 60,000 at work are drawn from about 77,000 who have registered with the US military for the security initiative. The predominantly Sunni Arab units, known by the military as ”CLCs”, emerged from a model which developed in western Anbar last year and has since spread to Baghdad and beyond. Iraq’s Shia-led government has at times appeared lukewarm about the rapid growth of the movements, with many Shias fearing that they would become unaccountable militias operating under the pretext of fighting Al Qaeda. A US general in Iraq said on Monday that the Iraqi government wanted to start paying the security units in a move that would indicate growing support for the units. The military pays each patrol member between $250-$300 a month. The New York Times on Thursday quoted Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh as saying it was Iraq’s responsibility to pay them and that “the loyalty of these people should be to Iraq”. That's a smart move and an indication that the central government is getting on board. It also makes the transition of the CLCs to other projects easier in the future. Some neighbourhood patrol members once belonged to Sunni Arab insurgent groups but US commanders say all are screened through extensive security databases and those who have attacked US or Iraqi forces or committed crimes are weeded out. And we keep the database handy in case there's any backsliding in the future. Smith said about 200 of the groups had been set up so far, a rise of about 20 on previously available figures. “The government of Iraq in 2008 is to transition this into their programme,” Smith said. Smith said pilot retraining programmes would be set up soon. Lieutenant-General James Dubik, the US officer in charge of training Iraqi security forces, told Reuters on Sunday that talks had begun between the military, US embassy officials and the Iraqi government on the future role of the groups. The talks would look at jobs for neighbourhood patrol members in other areas like public works, transportation and agriculture once the need for added security subsided.

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Iraq

Bahdad Pet Shop Bombers Iranian-run, not AQI

2007-11-25

Press Conference: Rear Admiral Gregory Smith, Director of Communications, Deputy Spokesman, Multi-National Corps – Iraq AQI is not the only enemy of Iraq whose goals are to destabilize and turn back the clock on the progress made by the Iraqi people. Yesterday in central Baghdad, criminals infiltrated a pet market with a ball bearing-laden bomb disguised inside a birdcage carrying birds, which exploded, killing and injuring scores of innocent Iraqis. In raids overnight, Iraqi and coalition security forces were able to identify and detain four members of a militia extremist group we assess as responsible for this horrific act of indiscriminate violence. Based on subsequent confessions, forensics, and other intelligence, the bombing was the work of an Iranian-backed, special group cell operating here in Baghdad. The group’s purpose was to make it appear al-Qaida had been responsible for this attack. Despite killing innocent Shia and Sunni, the special group’s aim appears to have been to demonstrate to Baghdadis the need for militia groups to continue providing their security inside Baghdad. Again, this bombing demonstrates there are individuals who continue to ignore Muqtada al-Sadr’s pledge of a ceasefire. Iraqi and coalition forces will continue to capture or kill those who choose to dishonor Muqtada’s pledge by committing these acts of indiscriminate violence against innocent Iraqis. It’s the dedication and hard work of Iraqi security forces, Iraqi citizens, and troops like those under Colonel Sutherland that are working to put an end to the tragic events witnessed yesterday in the Shora market.

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