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KABUL - More than 3,000 civilians were killed in the war in Afghanistan in 2011, the fifth year in a row the number has risen, the United Nations said on Saturday in a report likely to revive tension between the Afghan government and its Western backers. Civilian deaths undermine support both in Afghanistan and the United States for the US-led war, and are one of the biggest causes of friction between President Hamid Karzai and the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). Bombs planted on roads, and increasingly deadly suicide attacks that targeted civilians, killed more people than any other...

A roadside bomb killed five American troops in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, the U.S. military said, less than a week after American forces suffered their worst single loss of the Afghan war when Taliban insurgents shot down a helicopter.

"President Barack Obama's decision to order a bigger and speedier reduction in troop numbers than advised by his top military commanders will increase American casualties during the pull-out, Pentagon planners fear." *** "On the ground, US commanders believe the announcement means it will now be necessary to abandon plans to take their fight against the Taliban to the violent eastern mountains bordering Pakistan where the Afghan war was born. They had wanted to try and repeat the successes since Mr Obama's "surge" was begun in 2009 during fierce fighting in the southern provinces of Kandahar and Helmand."

The Department of Defense has identified 4,437 American service members who have died since the start of the Iraq war.

BAGHDAD -- Two American soldiers were killed in a rocket attack that struck their unit in southern Iraq, the U.S. military said Sunday. Col. Barry Johnson, a spokesman for U.S. forces in Iraq, confirmed that rockets hit the troops' unit but declined to give their names or say where in southern Iraq, pending notification of next of kin. About 47,000 U.S. troops remain in Iraq, down from 166,000 in October 2007 at the peak of the military surge that kept the country from dissolving into civil war. But Shiite militias in Iraq's south that are linked to anti-American cleric Muqtada...

The Department of Defense announced today the deaths of two soldiers who were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. They died March 19 in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when they were allegedly shot with small arms fire by an individual from a military security group. The incident is under investigation. They were assigned to the 4th Squadron, 2nd Stryker Calvary Regiment, Vilseck, Germany. KIA: CPL Donald R. Mickler Jr. from Trotwood, OH and SPC Rudy A. Acosta from Canyon Country, CA were the KIA. WIA: SGT Christopher J. Hemwall from Monroe, MI; SGT Zackary J. Hombel from Deer Park, WA;...

Last night radiation levels were “extremely high” in the stricken building, which was breached by an earlier explosion, meaning that radiation could now escape into the atmosphere. Tokyo Electric, the owners of the plant, said five workers had been killed at the site, two were missing and 21 had been injured.

KABUL (BNO NEWS) -- More than 700 children lost their lives in conflict-related security incidents in Afghanistan in 2010, according to figures compiled in an annual report of the Afghanistan Rights Monitor (ARM). The report "Civilian Casualties of War 2010" claimed in total over 2,421 civilian Afghans were killed in the war last year out of which 30 percent were children, defined as being under 18. A majority of the children were killed by improvised explosive devices (IEDs) followed by suicide attacks, air strikes and mortars. ARM said about 64 percent of the reported child deaths were attributed to the...

"President Barack Obama passed a tragic milestonetoday as the military announced the death of the 1,000th solider to die since he took over as Commander in Chief. Army Sgt. First Class James E. Thode, 45, of Kirtland, N.M., became the 1,000th soldier to die since Obama took office. He is survived by a wife and two children. SFC Thode died Dec. 2 at Sabari District, Khowst Province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit using an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 1457th Engineer Battalion, 204th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, Salt Lake City, Utah..." Complete coverage at...

http://www.icasualties.org/oef/

CALHOUN COUNTY — Family members of James or "Jimmy" Hansen are remembering the Senior Airman as a dedicated worker who loved his family and loved music. The graduate of Athens High School in the Battle Creek area was killed on Wednesday when some type of a controlled explosion took place on their base in Iraq. The soldier's brother Rich tells FOX 17 News, "something went wrong" when some captured bombs were being detonated with a friend. The family was flying to Philadelphia Thursday afternoon to get specific answers from military officials.

QUEENSBURY, N.Y. -- Bill and Beverly Osborn still can't bring themselves to erase the phone message from their son Ben. He had called from Afghanistan in June to assure them that he was safe. Four days later, he was killed in a Taliban ambush. The Osborns long ago accepted the risks faced by their son, an Army specialist. But what they can't accept now are the military rules of engagement, which they contend made it possible for the Taliban to kill him. Read more: http://www.thesunnews.com/2010/09/05/1675551/criticisms-of-military-rise-with.html#ixzz0ys7V1q7g

(CNSNews.com) – A majority of all combat-related U.S. casualties in the nine-year-long war in Afghanistan have occurred since President Barack Obama was inaugurated a little more than 17 months ago. Between Jan. 20, 2009 and July 2, 2010, according to CNSNews.com's database of Afghanistan war casualties, U.S. military personnel suffered 452 combat-related deaths in Afghanistan. That amounts to more than half of the total of 900 combat-related fatalities suffered by U.S. forces in Afghanistan during the entire nine years of the war.

WASHINGTON, June 9, 2010 – It has been a tough week in Afghanistan with 23 servicemembers killed in attacks since Sunday, including four killed when their helicopter was shot down in Helmand province today. Operational tempo for NATO International Security Assistance Forces in Afghanistan is at an all-time high. “There are more ISAF forces [in Afghanistan] than at any other time, so the level of activity is high and I think as we conduct our operations and engage with the enemy, obviously the opportunities for hostile contact have gone up,” Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said today. There now are about...

KABUL, March 31, 2010 – The coalition record on civilian casualties has improved significantly as a new strategy has gone into place in Afghanistan, but American leaders continue to hammer home how important it is to avoid killing civilians. Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, visited with troops serving on the front lines of the war in Regional Command South. Marines in Marja – the site of the recent offensive in Helmand province – asked him about the rules of engagement. Troops in other venues ask him about the furor over civilian casualties. One Marine...

(02-27) 17:44 PST PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) -- The earthquake in Chile was far stronger than the one that struck Haiti last month — yet the death toll in this Caribbean nation is magnitudes higher. The reasons are simple. Chile is wealthier and infinitely better prepared, with strict building codes, robust emergency response and a long history of handling seismic catastrophes. No living Haitian had experienced a quake at home when the Jan. 12 disaster crumbled their poorly constructed buildings. And Chile was relatively lucky this time. Saturday's quake was centered offshore an estimated 21 miles (34 kilometers) underground in a...

More than 300 U.S. soldiers have died in the war in Afghanistan since May 15, 2009, the day when the first major wave of new troops ordered by President Barack Obama arrived in the country. The 308 U.S. casualties in Afghanistan since then account for about a third of the total of 920 U.S. casualties in the eight-year war. Of the 308 soldiers who have died since mid-May 2009, 287 were killed by enemy action, according to a CNSNews.com database of all casualties in the Afghanistan theatre of war. The southern provinces of Helmand and Kandahar located along the Afghan...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 22, 2010 – Expressing deep regret over civilian casualties resulting from a NATO air strike yesterday, Pentagon civilian and military leaders said today they support the strategy that puts as much emphasis on protecting the Afghan population as capturing or killing insurgents. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, pointed to challenges the military is facing in Marja, Afghanistan, as an indication of the challenges U.S. and coalition forces face as they help Afghan security forces reverse enemy momentum there. Mullen reported steady progress in Marja, while conceding...

In the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, not including Pakistan and Yemen... Just in case you forgot, Americans are STILL fighting and dying in two overseas wars, and innocent civilians continue to die in horrible ways. I can see how this could slip your mind, as you will no longer see ANY mention of these facts, AT ALL, on any alphabet network evening news shows. The "Daily Death Count Update's!" on the 30 minute network news broadcasts ENDED on Nov 4,2008, the day Obama was elected. With a Democrat in the White House, American Soldier Deaths are no longer even...

An explosion in Middletown, Connecticut has rocked the town. Initial reports are that about a dozen people have been injured. Middletown, United States - The Middletown Fire Department just said in a phone interview that they are in the process of putting out a second alarm. There are an unknown number of casualities. The explosion took place at NRG Power Plant on River Road. According to their web site they are the fossil-fueled electric generating plant in the state. Reports are saying that the blast could be felt as far away as Durham.

Three US soldiers are among at least 10 people killed when a blast hit a convoy near a school in north-west Pakistan.Police said around 70 people, including 63 school girls and a US soldier, were injured in the bombing in Lower Dir. The soldiers were believed to have been training Pakistan's Frontier Corps in counter-insurgency operations. The two governments deny substantial numbers of US troops are based inside Pakistan, where public opinion is strongly opposed to their presence. The US embassy has declined to comment on the killings. Taliban presenceMilitary spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas told the BBC that the...

Anger, frustration and a hunger for revenge are running high among US Marines as casualties mount on the frontline of the battle against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan. On a base near Marjah, a Taliban stronghold in Helmand province, Marines are grieving the deaths of a sergeant and corporal killed by the remote-controlled bombs that have become the scourge of the long-running conflict. Commanders try to keep the men's rage in check, aware that winning over an Afghan public wary of the foreign military presence and furious about mounting civilian casualties is as crucial as any battlefield success. "It causes...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - UN: 5 killed in headquarters collapse in Haiti quake; over 100 missing including mission chief.

Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- A suicide bomber struck a forward operating base in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, causing an unknown number of American casualties, a U.S. military official said.

FORT CAMPBELL, Kentucky — The highest-ranking military officer in the United States on Monday told soldiers, including many bound for Afghanistan, that he expects casualties to rise next year as additional U.S. troops pour into the war.

ABOARD USS NIMITZ IN THE INDIAN OCEAN, Nov. 16, 2009 – Two soldiers working deep inside this aircraft carrier serve as liaisons between the aviators of Carrier Air Wing 11 and coalition forces on the ground in Afghanistan. Army Maj. Johnnie Gallegos and Army Sgt. 1st Class Percy Patterson joined Nimitz Carrier Strike Group as ground liaison officers when Nimitz entered the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations. Their work directly supports a tactical directive issued in July by Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan, that places limitations on the use of force that could...

This sobering report comes from the Washington Post: More than 1,000 American troops have been wounded in battle over the past three months in Afghanistan, accounting for one-fourth of all those injured in combat since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001. The dramatic increase has filled military hospitals with more amputees and other seriously injured service members and comes as October marks the deadliest month for American troops in Afghanistan. How many were killed or lost a limb, I wonder, while the president dithered and delayed implementing the recommendations of his hand-picked general?

Late last week, in the dead of night. President Obama made an unannounced trip to Dover, Delaware, where he was photographed saluting some flag-covered coffins that were coming in from Afghanistan. There were 18 coffins on this day. And afterwards, Obama said that this experience “would influence his decision” on troop levels and future policies in the war in that Afghanistan. Well, first I fault the press. I’ve been saying for years that reporting on war casualties, in Iraq, Afghanistan, or wherever, is defective. The national importance of casualties should be gauged by relative casualties in other, American wars. It’s...

Alaska-based paratroopers are making considerable progress in counter-insurgency efforts aimed at protecting civilians in Afghanistan and developing the local economy in the three provinces in which they operate, their commander says. In the seventh month of their one-year deployment, the soldiers of the 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne) of the 25th Infantry Division, based at Fort Richardson, have cut civilian casualties from attacks by the Taliban and other insurgents by nearly 50 percent, said Col. Michael Howard. At the same time, despite an overall rise in U.S. combat deaths in Afghanistan over the last year, the number of soldiers killed...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 1, 2009 – Members of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force met with village elders today after reports that civilians, including women and children, had been killed in an engagement between ISAF forces and insurgents yesterday in the Nad Ali district of Afghanistan’s Helmand province. After extensive fighting with insurgents at a compound in Nad Ali district yesterday, ISAF aircraft dropped a single precision-guided bomb on the insurgents’ position. Following the engagement, ISAF officials received reports of civilian casualties, and a number of civilians with injuries reported to ISAF troops. They were given immediate medical attention or were transported...

Civilian causalities from NATO bombings in Afghanistan represent: Deliberate war crimes Inadvertent but avoidable An inevitable byproduct of a just war Overblown Click on "English" - upper left - scroll down a bit - on the right.

Asked about the problems Obama is facing in Afghanistan, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs went to his tried and anything-but-true playbook of demagoguery, saying: "You can't under-resource the most important part of our War on Terror - you can't under-resource that for five, or six, or seven years.....and hope to snap your fingers and have that turn around in a few months." It's all Bush's fault. That's pretty much all you have to know about the Obama administration's political strategy, in a nutshell. Gibb's by now completely expected demagoguery doesn't account for why Barack Obama has already lost more...

POTUS and his golf clubs departed the White House grounds at 12:05 and arrived at the Ft. Belvoir club house at 12:37. Motorcade artfully zig-zagged through near-standstill traffic and past several unyielding motorists for the last quarter mile on I-95 southbound. Pool holding at base food court, under a haze of Cinnabon fumes. Temperature 80 degrees under partly cloudy skies. Adriel Bettelheim CQ

A missile strike in Iraq Thursday killed three Minnesota soldiers, all members of the National Guard's 34th Red Bull Infantry Division, family and friends said Friday. One of those killed near Basra was Carlos Wilcox, 27, of Cottage Grove, whose mother said her son asked her to mail him books so he could study for a medical school entrance exam when he got home. "He knew that God had called him to be a soldier and a doctor," said Charlene Wilcox. Dan Drevnick, 22, a graduate of Woodbury High School, was also killed in the attack. The third soldier, James...

]-->Army Sgt. Jennifer Watson, non-commissioned officer-in-charge of the Casualty Liaison Team at Joint Base Balad, stands in Hero's Highway. Each patient brought via helicopter to the Air Force Theater Hospital passes through Hero's Highway. Watson, a native of Peru, Ind., is deployed here from Fort Campbell, Ky. Photo by Staff Sgt. Dilia Ayala, 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing. JOINT BASE BALAD — The emergency-room trauma call and the medical staff's immediate action upon his arrival is only a memory to her now; sitting quietly at the bedside of her brother-in-arms, she carefully takes his hand, thanking him for his service and...

WASHINGTON, July 8, 2009 – Bright blue skies above the National Mall today belied the solemnity of the ceremony commemorating the first two American combat casualties of the Vietnam War. U.S. Army Master Sgt. Chester Ovnand and Maj. Dale Buis were the first two U.S. servicemembers killed in the Vietnam War. Their sacrifice was honored in Washington, D.C., Jyly 8, 2009, in a ceremony commemorating the 50th Anniversary of their deaths. DoD photo by U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Michael J. Carden   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “On this date 50 years ago, two men lost their lives...

WASHINGTON, June 24, 2009 – A former commander of the District of Columbia National Guard and his wife were among the nine people killed in the June 22 collision of two Metro subway trains here, officials announced yesterday. Retired Air Force Maj. Gen. David F. Wherley Jr. and his wife, Ann, were among nine people killed in a train collision on Washington D.C.'s Metro subway system June 22, 2009. The general commanded the District of Columbia National Guard for five years. Photo courtesy of the District of Columbia National Guard   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Retired Air Force...

WASHINGTON, June 18, 2009 – The United States and NATO must do everything possible to prevent civilian casualties in Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said here today. Video Gates said NATO defense ministers stressed this point during meetings in Brussels last week. “It is clear that we need to do much more to overcome what I believe is one of our greatest strategic vulnerabilities,” Gates said during a Pentagon news conference. “The Afghan people must be reassured that U.S. and NATO forces are there as friends, partners and, along with Afghan security forces, they're protectors as well.” The...

Of the total of 91,358 Iraqi civilian deaths from armed violence recorded for this period, we excluded 10,027 deaths from prolonged violence (e.g., the two sieges of Fallujah and prolonged episodes of violence during the invasion of March 20, 2003, through April 30, 2003), and 20,850 deaths recorded only in aggregate reports from morgues and hospitals, since these deaths were not reliably linked to specific events of a weapon's use.

KABUL, Afghanistan, Feb. 21, 2009 – An investigation into a Feb. 17 coalition air strike in Afghanistan’s Heart province has confirmed that 13 noncombatants and three enemy fighters were killed, military officials reported. Army Brig. Gen. Michael A. Ryan of U.S. Forces Afghanistan offers his condolences Feb. 20, 2009, to families of those killed during an operation targeting insurgents three days earlier in Afghanistan’s Herat province. U.S. Army photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. A combined Afghan National Army and coalition forces investigation team, accompanied by international observers, inspected the site this week to determine the identities of...

In other cases, civilians are simply used as cannon fodder or human shields. Reports out of Gaza say residents who attempted to flee their homes in the northern area of the Strip were forced to go back at gunpoint, by Hamas men.

Mumbai: At least 15 people have been injured in gunfights between two groups in at least three places in Mumbai on Thursday night. Details are sketchy but it is believed that two gangs fired at each other at outside CST Railway Terminus, Hotel Oberoi and the popular Café Leopold restaurant in Mumbai. The first shooting took place near the CST police station

KABUL, Afghanistan, Nov. 9, 2008 – Afghan government officials and Afghan and coalition forces traveled Nov. 6 to the Shah Wali Kot district of Afghanistan’s Kandahar province to investigate claims of civilian casualties in recent operations. Results of the joint investigation to date indicate 37 civilians were killed and 35 others were wounded in a battle after a combined Afghan and coalition patrol was ambushed in the village. The combined forces met with village elders in Wech Baghtu to discuss the Nov. 3 battle. Village elders told the joint investigation team that insurgents who were not from their village came...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 6, 2008 – Coalition, NATO International Security Assistance Force and Afghan officials are investigating possible civilian casualties during incidents in Afghanistan yesterday and Nov. 3, military officials reported. The incident yesterday occurred while forces were responding to an insurgent ambush on a route-clearance patrol in the Ghormach district of Badghis province. "The coalition, ISAF and Afghan authorities are investigating reports of noncombatant casualties in the Ghormach district last night," said Army Col. Greg Julian, a U.S. Forces Afghanistan spokesman. "We do not know all the facts at this time, but we will investigate this situation to get to...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 8, 2008 – As a follow-on investigation into an operation by Afghan National Army and U.S. forces in western Afghanistan that claimed civilian lives nears completion, a senior defense official here emphasized the U.S. military’s strong record of accountability and follow-through. “No other military in the world goes to a greater extent to prevent civilian casualties,” said Bryan Whitman, deputy assistant secretary of defense for public affairs. “This is something that we take very seriously, and when we have allegations of loss of innocent life, we investigate it.” At issue is an Aug. 22 air strike against...

KABUL, Afghanistan, Sept. 17, 2008 – Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates today offered Afghan President Hamid Karzai condolences and his personal regrets for the recent loss of innocent lives as a result of coalition air strikes. "While no military has ever done more to prevent civilian casualties, it is clear that we have to work even harder," the secretary said during a news conference at the American embassy here. The secretary met with Karzai and other defense leaders at the Rose Palace. An air strike in Sindand, a town in Herat province, allegedly killed large numbers of innocent Afghans. U.S....

Forgotten But Not Gone by: Rachel Paulk, June 12, 2008 Afghanistan remains a country of significant U.S. involvement without receiving the critical coverage typical of American action in the Middle East. In actuality, the fledgling nation is transforming into arguably the only successful example of a democratizing country attributable to the Bush administration. Due to the 9/11 backlash, the war with Afghanistan began with relatively strong public support in October of 2001. Kabul fell by November 2001, effectively destroying the Taliban base of operations, though not eliminating the group in its entirety. By January of 2004, Afghanistan’s first constitution was...

The Iraq war American KIA are the lowest since the war began. 19 so far this month. Bear in mind that we still have 3 days left in the month. But the only month that even comes close is February, 2004 when there were 20 American KIA.

Details sketchy but massive tornadoes have it towns in IA this are reports from scanners and spotters..no link yet also north suburbs of Min-ST paul MN has taken tornado hits with lots of damage MN MIN| Washington County (Hugo)| Search & Rescue| | US-61 IAO 159th St|U/D: MSP on Fenway St w/2 kids full code, many other reports of entrapment, 5 city blocks wiped out| ILL113| 17:26 MIN| Washington County (Hugo)| Search & Rescue| | 170th St @ Manning Trail|Multiple houses struck by tornado, searches in progress, FD O/S| ILL113| 17:10 QUOTE MIN| Washington County (Hugo)| Search & Rescue| |...

Four thousand American soldiers have died in Iraq. This is the true story of how one of them came home.