Afghanistan Wrapup for June 27, 2006

Updated January 24, 2008

Tuesday, June 27

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Sangin Valley, Sangin District, Helmand Province, Early AM: RPG attack on a British patrol here killed 1 British soldier. Heavy fighting ensued and another British soldier was wounded. He died of his wounds later. Altogether, 2 British soldiers were killed here and one more British soldier was wounded.

British troops fan out across the parched landscape of the Sangin District on April 17. 2 British soldiers were killed here on Tuesday, June 27, when Taliban fighters ambushed their convoy near here.

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Sangin continues to be one of the most unstable areas of the horribly unstable Helmand Province. 13 Taliban were reportedly killed in heavy fighting, including air strikes, that followed the initial attack and went on for 4 hours. The Taliban claimed that they destroyed a number of British vehicles.

British troops return from a mission to Camp Bastian near Sangin on June 20. Note the exuberant expressions.

*****


Monday, June 26

Bagram Airbase: Suicide car bomb attack on a US convoy near here killed the bomber and wounded 2 Afghan civilians.

This is what was left over after a Taliban suicide car bomber attacked a US convoy outside the US Bagram Airbase. Note the severed limb, either an arm or a leg, of the suicide bomber in the foreground.

*****


Sunday, June 25

Pech District, Kunar Province: Fighting here killed 1 US soldier. Details were lacking. The Pech District is extremely dangerous.

Kamdesh District, Nuristan Province: The five health officials kidnapped here by guerrillas last week were released. 2 were doctors, 2 were provincial health officials and 1 was a Swedish NGO worker. Tribal elders forced the terrorists to release the hostages.

Saturday, June 24

*****
Panjwayi District, Late: A four-hour gunbattle erupted here between the Taliban and Coalition forces. 2 soldiers were wounded during the fighting but later died in the hospital. Another Coalition soldier was wounded. Altogether, 2 Coalition troops were killed and 1 more was wounded. 45 Taliban were killed in the fighting.

Canadian forces raid mud-brick homes in Zangadin, Panjwayi Province. 2 Coalition troops were killed and 1 more was wounded in fighting in Panjwayi on Saturday, June 24.

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At first 8-10 guerrillas attacked but later fled to a compound where they were joined by a much larger group. Coalition forces then attacked the compound, killing 45 Taliban.

Afghan police patrol in Panjwayi District. The Afghan police are poorly armed; the Taliban often have better weapons.

Canadian forces in the Panjwayi District.

*****


Kamdesh District, Nuristan Province: Five Afghan medical workers were abducted while driving here in this very wild, forested, jungle-like and extremely dangerous province.


Friday, June 23

Chinoh, Shahjoy District, Zabul Province: The Taliban seized 4 men this village. a checkpoint, accused them of spying for the US, and decapitated them. Their headless bodies were found today and yesterday.

Fayzabad, Badakhshan Province: Roadside bomb attack here on a Danish military convoy carrying the Danish commander-in-chief for Afghanistan, Hans Jesper Helso, wounded 1 Danish soldier and damaged an LAV. The mysterious roadside bomb attacks in mostly-Tajik Fayzabad continue, with no reasonable explanations on who is carrying them out. The Taliban have little to no presence here.


Thursday, June 22

Near Tirin Kot, Uruzgan Province: US troops raided a cave complex here that the Taliban were using as a meeting and hiding place. 8 guerrillas were killed in the raid and 6 more were arrested. A cache AK-47's., RPG's and two machine guns was seized. There were no Coalition casualties.

Gorgeous, desolate terrain in Uruzgan Province. This terrain must be at a very high elevation.

*****


Wednesday, June 21

Sangin, Sangin District, Helmand Province, early AM: A large British paratrooper force was airlifted here to retake the town from Taliban who overran it earlier, battling police and a local militia, and killing 32 people.

Canadian troops near Sangin.

*****


Near Tirin Kot, Uruzgan Province: US forces intercepted a Taliban force traveling back and forth between a weapons bunker as they tried to set up an ambush of Coalition forces. The Taliban force was attacked and 17 Taliban were killed. There were no Coalition casualties.

Helmand Province: Six Taliban fighters were killed in an attack here.

*****
Kamdesh District, Nuristan Province: US troops battled guerrillas in northern Nuristan. The Taliban, Al Qaeda, Hezb-i-Islami and Lashkar-e-Toiba, a Pakistani group are all operating in this very remote and extremely dangerous province. During the fighting, 4 US troops were killed and 1 more was wounded.

US aircraft joined the attack and 2 guerrillas were killed. Calling in air support here is like calling in air strikes in Vietnam - you can hardly see the enemy at all and from the air, you can just see towering peaks, plunging valley, rocks and forested jungles.

In my opinion, bin Laden and Zawahiri are possibly hiding here in Nuristan. The tribes here have an ancient code that mandates that they protect visitors who ask to be protected from outsiders. This area was formerly known as Kafirstan, because the residents were non-Muslim pagans, until Muslims conquered it and Islamicized it in 1897.

There is a bewildering plethora of small ethnic groups in this area and many different languages are spoken. Most of these languages are related to Iranian in some way.

The region is so inaccessible that a situation similar to the Caucasus or parts of New Guinea has arisen, with tribes in deep mountain valleys speaking different languages. Since it is so hard to go from one valley to the next, the different languages persist due to limited contact. In contrast, in wide, flat areas, smaller languages tend to go out and you often end up with one language spoken over hundreds of miles.

The Muslims here have been very conservative for a long time and during the Afghan War, Salafis made strong inroads here. The Russians never really conquered this province during the war.

The women are supposedly beautiful but the few Westerners who have visited the province say that you can only see them when they are young girls, and after that, they are out of sight. Recent reports indicate that local tribal leaders are being abused by Salafist guerrillas who have overran the province and imposed their writ on the local tribes, who seem to be powerless to stop them.
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Kandahar: A suicide attacker detonated his explosives-filled car near a military convoy in the city of Kandahar, killing one and wounding nine, Afghan and coalition officials said. Two Canadian soldiers were injured and the attacker was killed. In addition, an Afghan bystander was killed and seven others injured, including one policeman and six civilians.

Aftermath of the suicide car bomb attack in Kandahar on June 21. 2 Canadian soldiers were wounded in this attack.

Germany: Romanian soldier Sgt. Costinel Valerica Slaniceanu, critically wounded in the roadside bomb attack in Kandahar Monday night that destroyed a Romanian tank, was evacuated to a hospital in Germany for further treatment.

Shah Wali Kot District, Kandahar Province: Roadside bomb attack on Canadian convoy here wounded 4 Canadian soldiers, 1 seriously. 2 Taliban were arrested nearby and suspected of detonating the bomb.

Southern Afghanistan: A Canadian armored vehicle rolled over, wounding 2 Canadian soldiers.


Tuesday, June 20

*****
Musa Qala, Helmand Province: US and Afghan troops battled Taliban fighters near here, killing 20 Taliban. 1 Afghan soldier was wounded.

Musa Qala, land of desolation in northern Helmand Province. 20 Taliban were killed here on Monday, June 19.


Two Afghans outside of Musa Qala waiting at a US checkpoint. Note the typical black turbans worn by the Taliban. Note also the hard, distrustful faces.

*****


Torkham Crossing, Afghanistan/Pakistan Border: A bomb attached to a fuel tanker supplying fuel to US forces in Afghanistan exploded as the vehicle crossed over into Afghanistan from Pakistan, killing six people and destroying 10 trucks. A fuel tanker behind it caught on fire and the fire spread to eight other trucks.

Bagram Valley, Bagram District,Helmand Province: British troops pushed deep into the Bagram Valley in Helmand Province, today pushed deep into rebel territories in southern Afghanistan that have not been under government control for 30 years. Troops are using small arms and artillery to battle Taliban fighters here, and Apache helicopters have been used by the British for the first time.

US forces being airdropped on top of a desolate mountain in Bagram Valley, where they planned to set up a base and cut off Taliban supply lines.


US forces take up position on a mountain ridge in the Bagram Valley, a place that has not seen Coalition forces since the fall of the Taliban. Later, US aircraft bombed a Taliban position in the valley below.

*****


*****
Sangin, Sangin District, Helmand Province: The Taliban ambushed the home of the former Helmand Province intelligence chief, Dad Mohammad Khan, setting off a 12-hour battle between the Taliban, Khan's militia and police that killed 32 people, wounded 4 more and left 10 people missing.

The ambush began when Taliban forces attacked vehicles carrying the brother a former district chief, Dad Mohammad Khan. Several hours later, around 40 of the Khan's relatives went to collect his body and were ambushed with the loss of 25 lives, Khan said.

The battle raged for 12 hours and took place only an hour from a US military base. The US troops never came to help the besieged Afghans and the relatives of the dead Afghans are furious.
*****


Monday, June 19

Kandahar, Night: Taliban militants detonated a roadside bomb on a Romanian tank, destroying the tank and killing 1 Romanian soldier, Cpl Ionel Gheorghita, and wounding 3 others. 1 of the soldiers, Sgt Costinel Valerica Slaniceanu, was critically wounded. That must have been a pretty potent bomb to destroy a tank.

Troops inspect the ruins of a Romanian tank destroyed by a roadside bomb near Kandahar. 1 Romanian soldier was killed and 3 more were wounded, 1 critically. It must have been a very powerful roadside bomb to take out a tank. Often anti-tank mines are used for bombs like this. In Iraq, guerrillas has been known to pile three 150-lb antitank mines on top of each other to destroy a US Abrams tank.

*****


*****
Zabul Province: Villagers here are finding themselves trapped between Taliban guerrillas and abusive government soldiers. In the Shajoy District, only 1 of 31 schools is open - all the rest have shut down under orders of the Taliban. In Qalat, the capital, the hospital is 50% empty. They cannot fill positions because doctors and nurses are too afraid to work there.

Ruins of an ancient castle near Qalat, capital of Zabul.

******


US and Afghan forces present Zabul as a smashing success. The previously corrupt government has been thrown out and a clean one installed instead. Millions in reconstruction funds have poured into the province and the police and army have been retrained and have received new weapons.

A minefield near an ancient canal in Zabul Province, near Qalat. There is actually some vegetation growing here.

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Yet Shahjoy District is seriously overrun with Taliban and even the main Kandahar-Kabul Highway, the government's prize, is avoided by most foreigners. Government soldiers, many of whom are ethnic Tajiks, often beat and abuse locals, whom they accuse of helping the Taliban.

An incredibly desolate desert scene in Zabul Province. How do you fight a war in a place like this? Where do you hide?

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But locals complain that they have no choice but the help the Taliban when they show up in the village. US and Afghan officials said that guerrillas pouring across the border from Pakistan play a major role in the worsening security situation.
******


Sunday, June 18

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Bagram Valley, Bagram District, Helmand Province: U.S. soldiers set up a fortified position on a mountain ridge here, marking the first time in years that soldiers had been in this area.

US forces were airlifted into a position on a remote mountaintop in the Bagram Valley in an effort to cut off the Taliban and take them by surprise.

*****


This is part of a major Coalition offensive designed to cut off Taliban supply lines and, in my opinion, keep the Taliban from massing in this area, which is a route towards Herat to the northwest and Kabul to the northeast. I believe that the Taliban are massing in here hoping to eventually move towards those two main cities.

A US soldier overlooking the US position in remote Bagram Valley in northern Helmand Province.


US forces in northern Helmand Province, probably in the Bagram Valley.

******


Kandahar: There are now reports that the Taliban is threatening to attack Kandahar. Taliban sources indicate that the group has been making preparations for an assault on the city for the last three or four months. They are reportedly stockpiling weapons and hiding in Loy Wiyala, a huge slum on the northern end of town.

Helmand Province: Taliban fighters attacked a convoy carrying a former provincial chief, killing him and his 4 bodyguards.

Shahjoy District, Zabul Province: Police and Coalition forces killed 2 guerrillas and wounded 2 more in fighting here. The wounded guerrillas were arrested.

Tarin Kot, Uruzgan Province: US and Afghan forces raided a Taliban stronghold near here and battled fighters for three hours, killing 7 Taliban and wounding 4 more. The wounded fighters were all arrested. A numbers of others escaped into the rugged mountains.


Saturday, June 17

Kajaki Dam, Kajaki District, Helmand Province, Late: Taliban forces fired mortars at British troops guarding this dam. British troops fired mortars back at the Taliban, killing 6 fighters. This is one of the few hydroelectric dams in Afghanistan and guerrillas have been firing mortars at it lately.

British troops take up position fighting in the cauldron known as Helmand Province on June 21. The location is unknown, but I suspect they may be near Gereshk, 23 miles southwest of Sangin.


Kajaki Lake in Helmand Province. The Taliban has been firing mortars at the dam here lately. It's hard to imagine what would happen if the dam broke.


Kajaki Lake in Helmand Province, scene of fighting when the Taliban fired mortars at British troops guarding the dam. This huge lake looks strange in such a desolate desert. What is even more strange is that no vegetation seems to have sprouted around the edges of this lake.

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Friday, June 16

Asadabad District, Kunar Province: Roadside bomb attack on US troops here destroyed an all-terrain vehicle and killed 2 US soldiers.


Thursday, June 15

Bagram Base, Kabul: US Capt. Patrick D. Damon died here from a non-combat related cause.


June 14

*****
Musa Qala, Helmand Province: Small arms attack on a US convoy here killed US Sgt. Roger P. Pena Jr.

The desolate landscape near Musa Qala, where Sgt. Pena was killed in a small arms attack. It's hard to see how you could ambush anyone in a place like this.

*****


Tuesday, June 13

Korengal, Kunar Province: Small arms attack on US forces here killed US Sgt. Russell M. Durgin.


June 5

FOB Salerno, Khost Province: The soldier who died here of a noncombat-related cause, Cpl. Derek A. Stanley, was, in my opinion, a suicide, but that has not yet been officially confirmed. At the time, the military only revealed that hostile action or foul play was not suspected. What this means, apparently, is that the soldier died of a gunshot wound.

US forces from the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment on a mountainside, probably near FOB Salerno. FOB Salerno is in Eastern Paktika Province near the Pakistani border. Note how much more vegetated it is here in Paktika than in Zabul, Helmand and Kandahar.

******

Possible Location of Tucker/Menchaca Torture Lair Revealed

The latest death toll figures from Hurricane Katrina can be seen on this website here.

The torture deaths and bodily desecrations of 2 US soldiers, Kristian Menchaca and Thomas Tucker in Jurf as Sakhr, Iraq (not Yusufiyah, as frequently claimed in the media), have been all over the news since their bodies were discovered late Monday, June 19. The type of torture that was inflicted on them or their bodies is the subject of much speculation.

A US soldier from the 4th Infantry Division searches a wheat field near Jurf as Sakhr in April.

The US military has revealed very little in the way of details. However, leaked details of the nature of the tortures inflicted on the men have been revealed and are propagating across the blogosphere. A comprehensive summary of the exact nature of the men's tortures, complete with sources, can be found on this blog here.

One thing that no one has yet discussed anywhere is where the men or their bodies were taken to be tortured. Note that recent US military statements cast doubt on whether the men were killed in action and later had their bodies desecrated or where captured alive and tortured to death.

First, let us note the location of the initial attack that led to this debacle. The attack occurred at a checkpoint on a bridge where a canal meets the Euphrates River on the outskirts of a town called Karagol, near Jurf as Sakhr, which is in the Triangle of Death south of Baghdad (excellent, detailed map of the Triangle of Death on this blog here).

US soldiers found the bodies on the evening of June 19, lying in a ditch by the side of the road near a power plant in Jurf As Sakhr.

Reports from Dallas Morning News journalists embedded with the military talk about a large base, Forward Operating Base Iskan, or Forward Operating Base Iskandariyah, in or near Jurf as Sakhr, and mention a prominent power plant in the middle of town.

US forces handing out candy to Iraqi children near Jurf as Sakhr in April.

This lines up with reports about the bodies being found near a power plant in Jurf as Sakhr and reports that the soldiers were part of a contingent from a nearby large US base. FOB Iskandariyah is right next to a huge power plant.

The power plant in Jurf as Sakhr is in the center of town and dominates it. The aging plant, built in the 1970's with Soviet technology, pours black smoke constantly and spills crude oil all over the area around it via oil bubbling to the surface, often a ways away from the plant. The police station in Jurf as Sakhr was first blown up by guerrillas last year. The police station was rebuilt this year, and guerrillas blew it up again. It is now being rebuilt for the second time.

A roadside bomb explodes near US military patrol in Jurf as Sakhr in April. Fortunately, the bomb was not close enough to the patrol to cause any damage. The Jurf as Sakhr area is totally hostile.

US troops withdrew from Jurf as Sakhr on Tuesday, June 20, and as they withdrew, they set fire to warehouses next to the power plant where the bodies were discovered. Residents later put out the fires. Reports of the behavior of US troops during the search do not report extensive property destruction in the area, nor do they report random beatings and shootings of civilians.

Therefore, the fact that the troops set those warehouses on fire just before they left is peculiar. No doubt these warehouses were searched around the time the soldiers were found dead.

If evidence of the men's torture deaths or bodily desecrations (blood on the floors or walls, etc.) was found, isn't it possible that the troops may have reacted to this by setting the warehouse-torture centers on fire just before they vacated the town? I can't think of any other reason to set the warehouses on fire. Consider that:

• There was little random property destruction by US forces in the area
• The warehouses were right next to the where the men's bodies were found
  
• The mutilated bodies were probably not moved very far from where they were tortured, killed and eviscerated
• As a last act before vacating the city, US forces inexplicably set fire to the warehouses
  

I would say that based on the evidence above, there is a possibility that the troops were either tortured to death, or their bodies were desecrated, whichever was the case, in the warehouses.

Update: We now have a second witness report from Iraqis who witnessed the attack on the 3 US troops in their Humvee on Friday, June 16 - the attack that set off the ensuing nightmare. This gives us three alternative scenarios regarding the capture of the troops:

1. An Iraqi initially reported that there were three Humvees at a checkpoint near a fruit grove. Guerrillas attacked the checkpoint from the fruit grove and two of the Humvees took off into the grove after the guerrillas. The guerrillas retreated into the grove, apparently to draw the two Humvees away and isolate the third Humvee.
   
   Seven guerrillas clad in black athletic suits and masks then swarmed the third Humvee. Two guerrillas were armed with RPG's and one was armed with a heavy machine gun. In the course of swarming the vehicle, Spc. David J. Babineau was killed and Menchaca and Tucker were wounded. The guerrillas then led Menchaca and Tucker off to two waiting vehicles and sped away. One vehicle was later found abandoned with bloodstains on the back seat.
   


2. US forces dispute this account, saying only that the three soldiers were manning a checkpoint with the rest of their patrol when the other vehicles in the patrol left to go check traffic, leaving the lone Humvee at the checkpoint.
   


3. We now have a third account. On Wednesday, June 21, Reuters quoted Omar Abdullah as saying that there was a US patrol in the area with numerous vehicles in it. A lone Humvee fell behind the rest of the patrol by about 300 yards. At that point, it was swarmed by about 30 guerrillas in Land Cruisers and Toyotas. The attack stirred up a lot of dust, so the rest of the patrol could not see what was going on. The driver was quickly killed. After a bit, Menchaca and Tucker were overwhelmed and taken prisoner.

US forces are sticking by Version #2 and discounting the others as "fog of war" aberrant eyewitness accounts. Perhaps that is so, but the varying accounts are definitely interesting, and in my opinion, may warrant further investigation.

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New Details on How Menchaca and Taylor Were Killed

The latest death toll figures from Hurricane Katrina can be seen on this website here. The famous Russian neo-Nazi video is on this blog here.

Updated January 23, 2008:

New details have emerged on how 2 US soldiers, Pvt. Kristian Menchaca and Pvt. Thomas L. Tucker, were killed in Iraq. The 2 men were captured and taken prisoner by Iraqi Al Qaeda at a checkpoint on a bridge over a canal. The location was near where a canal meets the Euphrates River on the outskirts of the town of Karagol, near Jurf As Sakhr, in the Triangle of Death.

For the location of the Triangle of Death, see the map in my prior post on the Death Triangle, one of the best on the Internet.

A Marine stands guard in Yusufiyah next to a young Iraqi boy in this photo from December 2004. Menchaca and Taylor were seized in Karagol, about 17 miles south of Yusufiyah. Their bodies were found in Jurf as Sakhr, a larger town next to Karagol. Yet many news reports are insisting that the men were both seized and found in Yusufiyah, which is a ways to the north.


A US soldier takes aim at unknown targets in Yusufiyah in December 2004 as an Iraqi girl peeks around the corner.


An Iraqi man preparing to vote in Yusufiyah in January 2005 is frisked by election guards. The despicable Sunni terrorists actually attacked polling places in this town where people were trying to cast votes.

US soldiers were tipped off by Iraqis, who were the first to find the bodies. The Iraqis warned US troops that the bodies may be boobytrapped. Early Monday evening, June 18, US troops discovered the bodies of the soldiers. The bodies were lying in a ditch by the side of the road near a power plant in Jurf As Sakhr.

Troops heeded the warnings of the Iraqis that the bodies may be boobytrapped, so they established a perimeter and waited until dawn to call in a bomb squad. Consequently, it took 12 hours to remove the bodies because there were a large number of roadside bombs scattered along the road and near the bodies.

What is interesting about this piece of information is that it flies in the face of the raging pro-terrorist rhetoric fulminating our way from the Idiot Wind known as the Rightwing Blogosphere. In the past few days, I read call after call on these blogs to carpet bomb the entire Triangle of Death, to level the whole area, to nuke it, and in general to kill civilians randomly in the area.

The basis for these calls was supposedly that the Death Triangle civilians almost all support the killers of the soldiers. The truth, as usual, is much more complicated.

Being complicated, it is hence beyond the capacity of most rightwingers, who believe rather than think, who lack critical thinking skills, who are afflicted with extreme levels of intellectual dishonestly and who demonstrate a general dislike of science, education and intellectuals.

For more on this dynamic, see the superb essay, Thinkers Versus Believers, by Tony Ward, a Political Science professor at Pitzer College in Claremont, California.

Now let us look at the facts in this case.

• A local gave an excellent description of the attack on the US soldiers, including descriptions of the attackers, the weapons they used, the outcome of the attack, and the vehicles used to drive the POW's away.
• Locals informed US troops that they heard that the POW's were being held in Jurf as Sakhr. It turns out that that is precisely where they were held.
• When locals discovered the soldiers' bodies, they promptly informed US troops and warned troops that the area was probably booby-trapped.
• Although there are clearly many guerrilla supporters in the area, including supporters of Iraqi Al Qaeda, news reports on the town where the abduction occurred, Karagol, describe Iraqi Al Qaeda Headquarters in the area a place where locals live in utter terror of Iraqi Al Qaeda.
• Considering that any cooperation with US troops is often met with threats, beatings, torture, and frequently death, wouldn't you say that the citizens above were cooperating with US troops, and hence putting their lives at risk?

Let us note that these brave Iraqis who defied vicious Islamofascist animals to give us intelligence about our missing troops would be slaughtered by the advocates of terrorism, fascism, barbarism and mass murder in the Rightwing blogosphere.

US troops cross a river (possibly the Euphrates) or more likely a canal, on Monday, June 19, in a sadly futile search for the missing 2 US POW's. The soldiers' bodies were found later that day in Jurf as Sakhr, not Yusufiyah as countless reports insist. Although crossing a river with all that equipment looks like a drag, in 130-degree temperatures it might actually be refreshing.

Initial reports by an Iraqi defense official said the 2 men were killed "in a barbaric way" and there were "signs of torture on their bodies". Later, IAQ released a statement that credited the new circus freak leader of the Islamofascist IAQ, Abu Hamza al-Mujaher, also known as Abu Ayyub al-Masri, with "slaughtering" the POW's himself.

However, the Counterterrorism Blog recently noted that IAQ issued a statement that appeared to imply that the previous statement crediting the IAQ leader himself with the execution of the 2 POW's was not credible. The Webmaster of the Tajdeed Forum on which the announcement took place has recently been attacked by Saudi Al Qaeda as an informant for British intelligence.

On the other hand, one can clearly see the Iraqi Al Qaeda logo on the homepage of that forum. Furthermore, if you look around that forum you will see various banners, including a banner with the classic Saudi Al Qaeda logo. There is also a logo of a horse with Arabic writing next to it. Many Al Qaeda logos utilize a horse.

There is another banner on the site with a picture of Saudi Arabia next to an AK-47. I assume this page is associated with the Saudi Arabian Al Qaeda organization.

The language in the supposedly fake posting seemed to have intimate knowledge of the fate of 2 soldiers soon after they were killed, when almost no information about the deaths was available. That implies that even if the posting was fake, the posters clearly had knowledge of the killing of the 2 soldiers. The fact that the posters were intimately connected with the killers renders the debate largely moot.

US military spokesmen noted that the bodies were "remains" that were so badly disfigured and mutilated that they were not able to determine the cause of death. The bodies were sent back to the US for DNA identification and this morning the families of both soldiers were notified that the remains had been positively ID's as those of Menchaca and Tucker. There will also be an autopsy to determine the exact cause of death.

An article in the Houston Chronicle quoted a relative of Menchaca's as saying that an Army spokesman had told him on Tuesday morning that both men had in fact been decapitated. The MSM is now quoting Army officials confirming that one, or possibly both men were decapitated.

Apparently, the initial results of the autopsy are being leaked. According to a group called Sons of Washington, the decapitation of Menchaca and Tucker was the coup de grace, and was done while they were still conscious.

However, a New York Times article on Friday, June 23, quoted Menchaca's relatives as saying that the military had told them that both soldiers were probably killed in the gunbattle at the scene. The bodies were then desecrated afterwards to make it appear that they had been tortured to death. This would contradict a witnesses' statement who said he had seen guerrillas away from the scene and placing them in cars.

The relative also said that only one soldier had been decapitated, not both.

On Wednesday afternoon, a post on the Free Republic website quoted Fox News military analyst Colonel David Hunt as saying that the 2 men had had their toes and fingers chopped off and their livers and intestines were removed and spilled onto the ground. According to the blog Blue Star Chronicles, the men also had their tongues cut out.

A Fox News columnist, E.D. Hill, said that the soldiers had their hearts cut out, their eyes gouged out, their noses and ears cut off and their penises and testicles cut off and stuffed in their mouths. Malott's Blog said the soldiers were burned with cigarettes and had their arms pulled out of their sockets.

There are also reports that they were dragged behind vehicles.

The blog The Further Adventures of Indigo Red reports that they were covered in garbage and surrounded by several roadside bombs.

These guys sound like Hannibal Lectors, not guerrillas.

There are claims that the government is covering up the details of the torture done to Menchaca and Tucker to protect their families. That seems reasonable enough, but the details are bound to get out anyway.

Nice people, those Iraqi Al Qaeda guys.

This blog issues its deepest condolences to the friends and family of the 2 murdered soldiers.

Other soldiers were injured and killed in the search for Tucker and Menchaca. Spc. Joshua Gutierrez was driving a Bradley armored vehicle north of Iskandariyah (see my map linked in the first paragraph) as part of the mission to search for the troops when the vehicle hit a roadside bomb.

The cockpit area of the Bradley was engulfed in flames and Gutierrez was unable to open the hatch at the back to let the troops out. Nor could he get himself out, because both of his legs were broken.

But another soldier jumped out and pulled Gutierrez out of the vehicle. Gutierrez suffered serious injuries in the attack and had part of one of his legs amputated.

During the search, US troops swarmed into the area around Jurf as Sakhr, an area that has not seen many US troops in recent days. A resident said there was a Humvee in front of every house.

US forces are launching an investigation to determine why the soldiers' Humvee was alone outside their base. In Iraq, most US military vehicles, even Abrams tanks, tend to travel in pairs. Apparently, the other vehicles in the soldiers' patrol left Menchaca and Taylor alone while the other vehicles were inspecting traffic. This is possibly a violation of the Army procedure above that all US military vehicles travel at least in pairs.

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Map of The Triangle of Death

The latest death toll figures from Hurricane Katrina can be seen on this website here. The famous Russian neo-Nazi video is on this blog here.

Updated January 31, 2008:

If you have been following the news lately, you are aware that a US force was attacked at a checkpoint in the Triangle of Death south of Baghdad, with the guerrillas killing 1 soldier and capturing 2 more. On June 19, at 3:45 PM Iraqi time (4:45 AM PST), the press reported that the 2 captured soldiers had been found killed.

The bodies had actually been found late on Monday, June 18, but the area was so dangerous and the bodies were in such poor shape that the report was delayed by at least 15 hours.

The Pentagon has released the names of the killed and captured soldiers. Pvt. Kristian Menchaca and Pvt. Thomas L. Tucker were captured by guerrillas and later killed. The third soldier, Spc. David J. Babineau, was killed in the attack. The official Pentagon press release is here.

An Iraqi Army official, Major General Abdul Assiz Mohammad-Jassim, Director of Operations for the Iraqi Ministry of Defense, both Menchaca and Tucker were found dead near a power plant in Yusufiyah.

A later report indicated that they were found in Jurf as Sakhr, 3 miles from where they were initially captured, which is where this lonely blog has insisted they were captured from the beginning.

Jurf as Sakhr is a predominantly Sunni town on the Euphrates described by one journalist as a town of "crumbling dirt farms, dilapidated weapons factories and boys selling chickens by the roadside". The Sunnis in Jurf as Sakhr, like most Sunnis in this region, are seething with Nazi-like exterminationist hatred for Shia Iraqis and are heavily involved in the ethnic cleansing of Shia from the area.

Jurf as Sakhr, under Saddam Hussein, was home to rich date plantations, a Scud missile testing site and the Medina Division of the Republican Guard. The powerful Sunni Janabi tribe resides from here all the way to Yusufiyah, 17 miles to the north. The Janabi tribe, which was deeply loyal to Saddam Hussein, is deeply involved in the most extreme racist aspects of the Sunni insurgency.

Adnan Al-Janabi, head of the Janabi tribe that is concentrated around Jurf as Sakhr. This tribe, which is also very prominent up around Yusufiyah, is responsible for most of the violence that has earned the Triangle of Death its name. Janabi himself was a Baathist and a prominent member of Saddam's regime.

He is married to a Shia woman and does not seem to have much control over his tribal members anymore. He turned against the regime partway through the US invasion and worked with the enemy to overthrow Saddam. He is now associated with Iyad Allawi's ex-Baathist party. He does not seem to be playing much of a role in the insurgency.

Unfortunately, the local Shia police have taken to detaining Sunni men from Jurf as Sakhr at will and refusing to release them even after US forces conclude that they are innocent.

If local Sunnis venture to Musayyib to the south, there is a chance they will be abducted and murdered by Shia death squads. In Musayyib, the Islamofascist vermin in the Shia Mahdi Army have laid down a savage version of Sharia, or Islamic Law.

On a side note, note that the International Herald Tribune article about Jurf as Sakhr linked above, published only 3 weeks ago on May 30, said things were starting to look up in Jurf as Sakhr. Not anymore. My, what a difference a few weeks makes.

According to the official, both soldiers had been barbarically killed and there was evidence of torture on their bodies.

The US military initially refused to affirm or deny the reports. Speculation was that the military was angry at the Iraqis for releasing the news before the US could notify the families of the dead soldiers. Later, ABC reported that the US military confirmed the Iraqi report, and CNN said the military had found two bodies that they have not yet identified.

An uncle of one of the dead soldiers is presently lashing out at the military over this ordeal, insisting that the US should have paid a huge ransom to get the POW's back. It is assumed that this poor, damaged man will become the latest conservative punching bag.

The initial incident occurred at 7:55 PM on Friday, June 16. At first, it was believed that there were 3 Humvees with 3 soldiers each at the checkpoint. Witnesses stated that the attack was apparently an elaborate ruse intended to draw 2 of the Humvees away in order to isolate and swarm the third Humvee.

The checkpoint came under attack from many different directions from guerrillas hiding in the fruit groves that line the road. According to the witness, 2 Humvees peeled out to chase the guerrillas into the groves as the guerrillas retreated into the trees, possibly in an effort to draw the soldiers in deeper and away from their checkpoint.

The witnesses said that with the third Humvee isolated, a group of 7 guerrillas in black running suits and masks swarmed the Humvee and attacked it before the soldiers in the Humvee could fight back. 1 guerrilla carried a heavy machine gun and 2 others carried RPG's. They took out the US force in the Humvee, killing 1 US soldier and capturing the other 2.

The US military denies that there were three Humvees at the scene and that one Humvee got separated from the other two (supposedly a violation of force rules). A spokesman said that instead there was only the one Humvee with 3 soldiers at the checkpoint.

A backup force arrived within 15 minutes but they found 1 soldier dead and the other 2 missing. Residents of the area witnessed guerrillas bundling Menchaca and Tucker into 2 vehicles before driving them away. The 2 captured soldiers may have been badly wounded. One of the vehicles was later found abandoned with blood stains on the back seat.

The attack is said to have taken place in Yusufiyah, 20 miles southwest of Baghdad, but that is incorrect. It actually took place on the outskirts of a town called Karagol, where a canal crosses the Euphrates River.

Karagol could not be located on any map. The town is reportedly located right next to Jurf as Sakhr in the far southwestern corner of the Triangle of Death. Jurf as Sakhr is 37 miles southwest of Baghdad and 17 miles south of Yusufiyah. Residents in the area said that they heard rumors that the soldiers were being held in Jurf as Sakhr, rumors that were apparently true.

Reports dating back months describe Karagol as the center of Iraqi Al Qaeda's network in the region. Residents live in terror of terrorists who roam the streets at will. Shia of all ages and both sexes are wantonly abducted, tortured and murdered in large numbers in this region, a process that has been ongoing down there for about 2 years now.

US troops fanned out across the area looking for the captured troops. Ground forces, helicopters and jets participated in the search. Troops searched women wearing hijabs to make sure that men were not hiding behind those garments.

Cell phone service in the area was scrambled to make it hard for the guerrillas to communicate. During operations to find the men, 2 guerrillas were killed and 78 more were arrested. 1 US soldier was killed and 12 more were wounded in the search.

Iraqi Al Qaeda captured the soldiers, perhaps deliberately, possibly to avenge the killing of Musab al-Zarqawi, leader of Iraqi Al Qaeda, 2 weeks ago. Later, IAQ issues a statement on one of their websites confirming that they captured the soldiers.

In the same statement, IAQ said they had captured 4 Russian diplomats and killed a fifth in a raid in the Mansur District in early June. They gave Russia 48 hours to get out of Chechnya. The 48 hours ended with no word from the Russian government.

IAQ then issued another statement saying that since the Russian government refused to give in to IAQ's demands, IAQ is going to murder the 5 diplomats. IAQ issued another statement saying that they murdered the 5 diplomats.

But the most recent article on the crisis quotes Russian officials as saying that the diplomats are still alive and negotiations are ongoing. What is interesting is that Chechen rebels, much reviled for savagery, issued a statement imploring IAQ to spare the lives of the diplomats.

In case you are wondering, this blog strongly supports the Chechen rebels.

After the soldiers' bodies were found, IAQ issued another statement saying that the new head of IAQ, Abu Hamza al-Mujaher, also known as Abu Ayyub al-Masri, had "slaughtered" the POW's.

However, a post on The Counterterrorism Blog said that this statement is fake since it was not posted by IAQ or its propaganda team. Therefore, says Iraqi insurgent expert Even Kohlman, it should be regarded as a hoax until proven otherwise.

The language used in the IAQ statement, along with the Iraqi official's comment that the troops had been "barbarically" killed and the US military's report that it had found "the remains" of 2 bodies, all suggested that the men were personally beheaded by the new leader of IAQ.

The Pentagon and US news channels are not confirming or denying reports that the soldiers were beheaded. They are saying that the bodies showed signs of "severe trauma" such that they could not be immediately identified.

A military official, US Major General William V.Caldwell IV, said that the cause of death could not be determined. However, according to the Houston Chronicle, Mario Vasquez, Menchaca's uncle, verified that Army officials told family members Tuesday morning that both men had indeed been beheaded. Menchaca was from Houston.

And according to a poster on the Free Republic site, on Tuesday afternoon, US Army Colonel David Hunt, a Fox News military expert said that Menchaca and Taylor had, at the least, had their toes cut off and their internal organs removed.

The soldiers' bodies were booby-trapped, in that roadside bombs were scattered along the road leading to the bodies and around the bodies themselves. US forces suspected as much, and called in an explosive team before retrieving the bodies, so none of the bombs went off. But the painstaking procedure slowed the retrieval of the bodies by 12 hours.

The bodies are being shipped back to the US for autopsies and positive identification.

An Iraqi Al Qaeda master plan found in Zarqawi's destroyed safe house in Hibhib said that among IAQ's plans was the capturing and executing of hostages. Donald Sensing of One Hand Clapping astutely points out that after Zarqawi was killed, IAQ and its associated groups started beheading captives again.

For some time prior, IAQ had stopped beheading hostages and was shooting them instead after being reprimanded by top Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri that the beheadings were alienating people. The suggestion here is that the killing of Zarqawi has so angered IAQ that they have started beheading people again in revenge.

The last known capture of a US soldier in Iraq occurred in April 2004 when Keith M. Maupin was taken prisoner after an attack on his convoy in Abu Ghraib. Later, an Islamofascist group released a videotape purporting to show the murder of this POW, but the Pentagon said that the tape was inconclusive. Having reviewed stills from the tape, I think that the tape shows Maupin being executed.

Fears for the soldiers' safety were validated by the fact that IAQ captured the soldiers. Few Iraqi guerrilla groups have followed anything resembling rules of war in terms of any captured persons, especially captured US and Iraqi forces. Of these, Salafists like IAQ have been the worst offenders. As expected, IAQ apparently killed the troops, though the soldiers would have had greater propaganda value if they had been kept alive.

Sunni Salafist terrorists have captured US and Iraqi troops and have even abducted innocent journalists, businessmen and backpackers as a part of their insane and evil insurgency. These Takfiri maniacs have killed many of their prisoners, and apparently killed Menchaca and Tucker too.

The usual suspects in the rightwing blogosphere are making the non reality-based assessments typical of their surreal community.

After the seizure of the POW's, they called for such insanity as "carpet bombing the Triangle of Death" because the region "harbors terrorists". Now, I am all for killing as many Salafi-jihadis as possible in Iraq and Afghanistan, but doesn't carpet-bombing whole regions sound like a pretty terroristic thing to do ourselves?

Other rightwing blogs questioned whether the terrorists took the captives to "regain the advantage" after Zarqawi's death last week. As if five car bombs in a couple of hours in Baghdad Monday was not enough to show that these guys are not exactly down and out?

Others fretted that the terrorists would kill the soldiers on tape and that then the media will play the tape endlessly in an effort to make us believe that the war "is going badly", when in fact, the war is going just peachy-keen. Bloggers said it was time to stop pussyfooting around and to cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war.

This theoretical escalation would apparently be somehow qualitatively different from the US War on Iraq which has already killed, via pussyfooting, 250,000 Iraqis - the latest estimate by the authors of a famous study in Lancet.

Thankfully, US Dictator and Head Terrorist George Bush went on TV after the soldiers were captured and gave a speech to the terrorists who abducted the soldiers. "Give them back", King George demanded in his best cowboy accent. Surely, every terrorist and guerrilla in Iraq was trembling afterwards. IAQ apparently did not heed Bush's marching orders.

Pathological liar Dick Cheney reiterated that the insurgency was "in its last throes", even as 2 US POW's got their heads sawed off. He had previously said that one year ago. He defends his previous statement now, and reiterates it, with a bizarre explanation. In real life, those of us who are not doormats of masochists tend to run the pathological liars out of our lives and friendship circles. How come it doesn't work that way in politics?

The Triangle of Death has been unstable for a very long time.

Originally the area was mostly Shia, but Super-Racist Saddam Hussein deliberately moved Sunnis into the area to break up and dilute the hated Shia presence, in a type of deliberate ethnic warfare that is practiced in sicko nations the world over, including Israel inside the Green Line, Iran, Indonesia, China, Turkey, the Philippines and Pakistan.

Saddam then handed out Shia lands to these Sunni racists, many of whom came from tribes in the Ramadi and Fallujah area, and sent the these Sunni tribes down South to slaughter Shia in a mass murder campaign during the Shia Uprising after the Gulf War. The original insurgency in this area was pro-Saddam, especially in Latifiyah, traditionally the worst city in the area.

Some of the worst crimes of the early war occurred here. 2 Japanese journalists were burned alive here, 2 Italian journalists were kidnapped and one of them were murdered, 2 French journalists were captured, and Ken Bigley were murdered by Iraqi Al Qaeda. Starting about 2 years ago, the criminal Sunni guerrillas started simply killing any Shia, no matter who they were, simply for their religion.

The perpetrators seemed to be a combination of Saddam loyalists and Sunni Salafist Takfiri extremists. Where one began and the other left off was not completely clear - Chris Albritton points out the process whereby Saddam loyalists morph into radical Islamists here. The region has grown increasingly fundamentalist, and the Takfiris and other Sunni racists have been in full control in recent months.

The influence of the Saddam loyalists in this area, and in the insurgency in general, has dropped off dramatically since the start of the year, in my opinion. I believe that that Saddam loyalists no longer play a prominent role in the insurgency, though the 2 articles linked above certainly call that into question.

As the Salafization of the Sunni insurgency in the Death Triangle deepened, the persecution of both the Shia and anyone violating extreme Islamic strictures escalated. Any Sunni selling land to Shia around Latifiyah was threatened with death.

Shia traveling south to Karbala and Najaf via the main highway - the most direct route - were typically waylaid, harassed, beaten and murdered. A bridge was blown up just before 2 vans full of Shia pilgrims approached it - the vans plunged off the road and a couple dozen Shia were murdered. A woman was murdered for the crime of wearing jeans. And on and on. Typically, Latifiyah was Ground Zero for this animalistic BS.

Obligatory anti-Iraq War plug: This great post from the very good blog No More Mister Nice Blog illustrates brilliantly what the Administration was doing when they got us into this war of choice. The Iraq War was basically a win-win thing for the Bushies.

If it went like a cakewalk, they could continue cakewalk wars of choice until they got bogged down, and reap all the political capital. As long as the wars went well, the Bushies could paint the Dems are war skeptics, even if most Dems were quiet about these victorious wars of choice. Bingo - majority stays in the Republican lap.

The goal seems to have been to create a generational fault line a la the Vietnam War - the aftermath of which caused a national tectonic shift to Republican conservatism. Even if the war goes badly, the macho, proud, vengeful POV that retains our emotional investment is to buck up and slug out the war, no matter how hopeless it seems.

As Steve points out insightfully: I think the White House wanted to create a generational fault line, with Republicans on the side of fighting and pride and vengeance and Democrats painted as the other side. I'm afraid it's still working, if barely.

Bush may never again be a popular president, but Americans either have to stick with his party's approach or embrace an alternative that's dispiriting -- which means he may still have us where he wants us.

As you can see, there is no glory in our position. Withdrawal is humiliating and miserable and feels like losing. It feels like all of those US deaths and injuries for naught. But the warmongers have us by the balls.

I noticed that the murder and torture of the 2 US POW's (a serious defeat for the US) is taken by the pro-war crowd as all the more reason to stay there and kick and some major butt. So, if we are losing, we definitely need to stay. But the killing of Zarqawi, coded as a major US victory, meant that we were winning, and this was no time to cut and run.

Anyway, if we leave, we renounce forever the possibility of future victories - like killing the new Zarqawis that will keep popping up like weeds. So, if we are winning, then we for sure need to stay. Get it? No matter if we are winning or losing, we still need to stay in Iraq. Now how do you argue with someone like that, anyway?

A map of the Triangle of Death showing the location of the town where the soldiers were captured can be seen below. This is probably one of the best maps on the net showing the Triangle of Death.

Looking at this updated map of the Triangle of Death, you can see that on many maps, the Triangle of Death is not really a triangle at all - it is more a parallelogram. Note that the boundaries are approximately Iskandariyah and Jurf as Sakhr in the south and Yusufiyah, Madaen and Salman Pak in the north. The boundaries on the east are Madaen and Salman Pak and on the west are Jurf as Sakhr and Yusufiyah. The Triangle also includes Mahmudiyah and Latifiyah.

Most maps of the triangle usually just draw a triangle from Mahmudiyah to Yusufiyah to Iskandariyah, including Latifiyah. The resulting smaller triangle is not correct because it fails to include Jurf as Sakhr west of Iskandariyah and Madaen and Salman Pak to the far east. This map ideally should include Rushdi Mullah, a town that is definitely part of the Triangle, as this gripping account of a recent firefight shows. I would have included Rushdi Mullah but I am getting tired of redrawing this map.

Jurf as Sakhr, Madaen and Salman Pak are clearly part of the Triangle of Death. The attack took place in Karagol, which, though not marked on the map, is apparently right next to Jurf as Sakhr. Copyright Oakhurst Technology 2006. All rights reserved.

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Afghanistan Wrapup for June 13, 2006

Monday, June 12:

Sayedan, Panjwayi District, Kandahar Province, Early: Afghan and Coalition forces raided this village and attacked a group of Taliban hiding in a shop that sold dried fruit, setting off a major firefight. Coalition forces had been tracking the guerrillas for two days. 12 Taliban were killed in the battle. 2 Canadian soldiers were seriously wounded by small arms fire in the fighting.

The media gave the name of the town as Saidan, but that is incorrect. Sayedan (map here) is 142 miles west of Kandahar. It is only 7 miles northwest of Alizi (written by the media as Azizi) where a major US air raid on the Taliban fighters hiding in the town killed about 35 civilians a few weeks ago.

Media reports have speculated lately that the Taliban in Panjwayi District were defeated, based on their perceived strength and body counts of dead fighters. That clearly is not the case.
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Andar District, Ghazni Province: Guerrillas waylaid and set afire an oil tanker heading to a US base. The attack killed the driver and wounded a passenger. Andar District is totally controlled by the Taliban.


Sunday, June 11

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Syachow, Deh Rawood District, Uruzgan Province, Late: Afghan and US forces raided this village following a tip from an Afghan informant. In the ensuing battle, 15 Taliban were killed, including a relative of Mullah Omar, Mullah Amanullah, the Taliban commander for the district. 6 guerrillas were arrested in the raid and variety of weaponry, including rocket launchers and assault rifles, was seized.

There were no Coalition casualties. The media is saying this town is called Siachave, but the real name of the town is Syachow (map here). Syachow is located 10 miles southwest of the district capital of Deh Rawood, near the border with the Kajaki District of Helmand Province. It is in this area that a huge US offensive is presently being planned. The Deh Rawood district of Uruzgan is highly unstable.
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Sangin District, Helmand Province, Evening: A British patrol engaged in a firefight with Taliban fighters, killing 1 British soldier and seriously wounding 2 more. 10 Taliban were also killed in this battle. The Sangin District is very unstable.

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Yaq'ub, Ghazni Province: US and Afghan forces engaged in a battle with guerrillas near here. Afterwards, guerrillas fled into this village. Coalition forces surrounded the village and started searching for guerrillas, but while doing so, a US up-armored Humvee hit a roadside bomb and a US soldier was killed. No enemy fighters were found in the search of the village.

The media is referring to this town as Yacoub, but the real name of the village is Yaq'ub (map here). It is located 13 miles south of the capital city of Ghazni in white-hot Andar Province.
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Saturday, June 10

Zabul Province: Fighting here between Coalition forces and Taliban fighters killed 2 Taliban.

Madrid, Spain: Spanish officials released the names of 63 Spanish soldiers who were killed when their plane crashed in Turkey a while back as they were returning home from serving in Afghanistan. The list follows, including which branch of service they were from, name, rank and hometown.

From the Army: Teniente coronel José Ramón Solar Ferro (Noja, Cantabria), Comandante José Antonio Fernández Martínez (Madrid), Comandante Antonio Novo Ferrero (Guitiriz, Lugo), Comandante Felipe Antonio Perla Muedra (Madrid), Comandante José Manuel Ripollés Barrios (Sidi Ifni), Capitán Manuel Gómez Generes (Pamplona), Capitán Ignacio González Castilla (Madrid) and Capitán Santiago Gracia Royo (Zaragoza),
Capitán Juan Ignacio López de Borbón (Madrid), Capitán José María Muñoz Damián (Zaragoza), Capitán Jesús Mariano Piñán del Blanco (Gijón, Asturias), Teniente David Arribas Cristóbal (Burgos), Teniente Antonio Cebrecos Ruiz, (Santander), Teniente Mario González Vicente (Madrid) and Teniente Sergio Maldonado Franco (Herrera de Pisuerga, Valladolid), Subteniente Godofredo López Cristóbal (Valdeolivas, Cuenca), Brigada César Garciela González (Vigo), Brigada Juan Bonel Suárez (Madrid), Brigada Francisco Javier Cobas Ligero (Ceuta), Brigada Miguel Angel Díaz Caballero (Granada), Brigada Emilio Gonzalo López (Madrid), Brigada Juan Carlos Jiménez Sánchez (Madrid) and Brigada José Ignacio Pacho González (Bilbao), Sargento Primero Blas Aguilar Ortega (Valencia), Sargento Primero Francisco de Alarcón García (Valencia), Sargento Primero Francisco Javier Hernández Sánchez (Murcia), Sargento Primero Sergio López Sáez (Zaragoza), Sargento Primero Iñigo Maldonado Franco (H.de Pisuerga, Palencia), Sargento Primero Rafael Martínez Micó (Alfafar, Valencia), Sargento Primero Alberto Antonio Mustienes Luesma (Zaragoza), Sargento David González Paredes (Zaragoza), Sargento Eduardo Hernández Mañez (Valencia), Sargento Juan Ramón Maneiro Cruz (Madrid), Sargento Juan Jesús Nieto Mesa (Montehermoso, Cáceres), Sargento José Gabino Nve Hernández (Bata, Guinea), Sargento Miguel Sánchez Alcázar (Villanueva de los Infantes, Ciudad Real), Cabo primero Juan Jesús Rivas Rodríguez (Salamanca), Cabo primero Feliciano Vegas Javier (Cáceres), Cabo primero José Ignacio Viciosa García (Palencia) and Cabo José Israel Ferrer Navarro (Albacete).

From the Air Force, the following airmen were killed: Teniente David Gil Fresnillo (Segovia), Brigada José María Pazos Vidal (Marín, Pontevedra), Brigada Eduardo Rodríguez Alonso (Sotes, La Rioja), Brigada Francisco Moro Aller (Valdesogo, León), Brigada Pedro Rodríguez Alvarez (Sotes, La Rioja), Alférez David Paños Saá (Madrid), Sargento Primero José M. Sencianes López (Málaga), Sargento Primero José Luis Moreno Murcia (Barcelona), Sargento Primero Miguel A. Algaba García (Madrid), Sargento Primero Ismael Hipólito Lor Vicente (Zaragoza), Sargento Primero José Antonio Tornero Rodenas (Albacete), Sargento Francisco J. Cardona Gil (Valencia), Subteniente Joaquín Alvarez Vega (San Esteban de Pravia, Asturias), Cabo Primero Fernando España Aparisi (Valencia), Cabo Primero Vicente Agulló Canda (Lalín, Pontevedra), Cabo Primero Juan C. Bohabonay Domínguez (Las Palmas), Cabo Javier Gómez de la Mano (León), Soldado David García Díaz (Santander), Soldado Edgar Vilardell Iniesta (Hospitalet de Llobergat, Barcelona), Soldado Carlos Oriz García (Zaragoza) and Soldado Miguel Angel Calvo Fuentes (Madrid).

From the Civil Guard (National Guard), Comandante Javier García Jimeno (Ceuta) was killed.


Friday, June 9

Outside Kabul, Late: Roadside bomb attack on an Afghan convoy carrying a top Kabul intelligence officer, Humayoon Aini, missed the officer but killed 3 others in the convoy, including a tribal chief, and wounded 2 more, including a district intelligence officer.

Outside Kandahar: Roadside bomb attack on an Afghan police convoy killed 2 police officers and wounded 3 more. The convoy was escorting a district police chief to Kandahar.


Thursday, June 8

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Chahar Bolak District, Balkh Province, 3:30 PM: There was yet another attack on Afghan aid workers in this province, in which an attacker on a motorcycle fired on aid workers, killing their driver and wounding 2 others. There has been a series of these attacks in this province, often involving attackers on motorcycles, lately but no one knows for sure who is behind it or what their motivation is.

4 suspects have been arrested in this latest attack. Another source said the attack took place in Chimtal District. The media is calling this district the Charbolalk District but it is actually called the Char Bolak District. It is located 26 miles west of Mazar-e-Sharif near the border with Jawzjan Province.

Ruins of a city built by Alexander the Great in Balkh Province. This was just another in an endless series of conquests of this land. The conquering Greeks added their genes to the diverse Afghan gene pool. I know Pakistanis who trace their ancestry back to Greeks, perhaps those who came with Alexander's conquerors.

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Cineh, Deh Rawood District, Uruzgan Province: US and Afghan forces disrupted a large group of Taliban meeting outside this village and attacked them with artillery, killing 10 of them. The remaining fighters fled into the countryside. Coalition forces pursued them, but they had disappeared. The media is calling this town Cahar Cineh, but the actual name is Cineh (map here).

It is located 7 miles west of Deh Rawood, the capital of the district and it is close to the border with the Kajaki District in Helmand. It is very close to Syachow. This area is apparently red-hot right now. The Deh Rawood District of Uruzgan and the Kajaki District of Helmand are apparently the site of a major US counterinsurgency operation set to go very soon.
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Uruzgan Province: Guerrillas attempted to set up an ambush here, but the attempt was foiled by US and Afghan forces. US forces attacked the group with cannon fire from an aircraft, killing 4 Taliban. Two RPG's, one AK-47 and several magazines were also seized in the operation.

Bala Buluk, Farah Province: Guerrillas opened fire on the provincial police chief as he walked in a market here, killing him and 3 bodyguards. Farah is getting more and more unstable lately, which is strange because supposedly the Taliban do not have a large presence here. However, there have been some attacks around Bala Baluk lately. Bala Baluk is located 28 miles northwest of Farah city, the capital of the province.

Paktia Province: Roadside bomb attack on Afghan troops here killed 3 Afghan soldiers.

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Kapisa Province: A shootout between Afghan government forces and guerrillas killed 3 guerrillas and wounded 4 more. Kapisa has been a pretty stable province, and it is strange that guerrillas are operating openly here. Kapisa is just northeast of Kabul Province. It is home to the Panjshir Valley, where Shah Massoud's largely Tajik mujehedin force was headquartered during the war against the Soviets.

Crash site of an aid helicopter that went down during stormy weather on a very high mountaintop in Kapisa a while back. Everyone on board was killed.

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Ghazni Province: Roadside bomb attack on Afghan troops here killed 3 Afghan soldiers and wounded 1 more. 3 suspects were arrested in the attack.

Qalat, Ghazni Province: Government forces seized a donkey laden with 66 pounds of explosives and a guerrilla who was reading the animal to detonate it by remote control as part of a guerrilla attack. The seizure took place on the outskirts of this town. Qalat is the capital of the province.


Wednesday, June 7

Kandahar Province, Night: The Taliban reported that they abducted several Canadian soldiers here, but the report proved to be false. After a roll call of all Canadian soldiers, none were found to be missing.

Kandahar Province, Night: The Taliban fired 3 rockets into the Canadian base at the Kandahar Airport but there were no casualties and there was no damage.

A photograph of the surprisingly modern Kandahar International Airport. Don't think I will be flying in anytime soon though. The main base for the Canadian troops in Afghanistan is located near this airport on the outskirts of Kandahar.

Zabul Province: Roadside bomb attack on US troops here wounded 3 US soldiers.


Monday, June 5

Arghandab District, Zabul Province: US and Afghan forces battled a large group of 60 Taliban here, killing 30 of them. There were no Coalition casualties. Arghandab is in the northern part of the province.


Sunday, June 4

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Now Zad, Helmand Province: British forces on a routine search operation battled Taliban fighters in this village, and 13 Taliban were killed after a 6-hour gun battle. This battle was reported in an earlier edition of Afghanistan Wrapup, but in that entry only 5 Taliban were said to be killed.

The actual name of this town is Now Zad (map here), not Nowzad, as the media is calling it. It is a large town 56 miles north of the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah.

The scene of the raid on the Taliban forces in Now Zad, Helmand Province. I am not sure what all that smoke is coming off the vehicles. Maybe military vehicles just smoke a lot, especially when driving fast in very hot weather.

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