War News for Saturday, December 24, 2011

The DoD is reporting a new death previously unreported by the military. Spc. Mikayla A. Bragg died from unreported causes in Khowst province, Afghanistan on Wednesday, December 21st. News reports that she died of gunshot wounds.


CIA has suspended drone attacks in Pakistan, U.S. officials say


Reported security incidents

#1: A suicide car bomb attack in northwest Pakistan killed six soldiers and wounded about a dozen others on Saturday, police said. The attack took place in Bannu city where the bomber targeted the camp office of the paramilitary Frontier Corps troops, who are deployed in militant-infested North Waziristan, which borders Afghanistan. "The bomber drove his explosives-packed vehicle into the FC building," local police official Muhammad Shafiq told AFP.

#2: Officials in ministry of interior affairs of Afghanistan on Saturday following a press release said, at least four militants were killed in southern Kandahar province. The source further added, The operations were conducted by Afghan national police forces in conjunction with the other Afghan security forces and NATO-led coalition forces at Arghandab district of southern Kandahar province. The statement also said, at least two other militants were detained during the military operations.

#3: One soldier and four militants were killed in a skirmish between Pakistani forces and militants in the northwestern Kurram tribal region near the border with Afghanistan, security officials said. There was no independent confirmation of the incident and militants often dispute official accounts.

#4: Pakistani fighter jets bombed three militant hideouts in the northwestern Orakzai tribal region, killing 10 militants and wounding another 12, security officials said.

#5: Militants attacked a paramilitary base in the early hours of Friday in the Mulazai area of the northwestern Tank district, killing a soldier and wounding two, security officials said. A senior police official in the area said 15 soldiers had gone missing during the attack. A faction of the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the violence, and said the 15 missing soldiers were in its custody.