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Dozens of rockets and mortar shells exploded in the Eshkol Regional Council in southern Israel on Sunday evening. Residents of Kibbutz Kerem Shalom, near the meeting point of the Egypt-Israel-Gaza borders, were told to stay in their homes, for reasons of safety. Palestinians sources in Gaza reported exchanges of fire in the area of Kerem Shalom, including shells fired from the Israeli side, and according to the report, Palestinians have been wounded. Israeli tanks reportedly fired at least 15 shells in the area near Kerem Shalom. Egyptian state television also reported that an Islamist militant group was behind the attack....

The chemical is designed to ignite a fire around the impact zone and is banned by international law for use near civilians. Two mortar shells fired from the Gaza Strip into the rural Eshkol Regional Council on Sunday morning contained phosphorous, security forces confirmed. The shells landed in open fields, causing no injuries or damage. Mortars containing phosphorous fired from Gaza have landed in Israeli territory in the past. Phosphorous is designed to ignite a fire around the impact zone. The chemical is banned by international law for use near civilians. The mortar attack follows an Israeli air strike on...

The IDF has rescued an Arab woman and her baby daughter after they received medical care in Israel and then were caught in a Hamas mortar shell attack on the Erez Crossing to northern Gaza. The commander of the Erez crossing and another security officer brought the woman and baby to a protected shelter at the crossing where they were given a meal for the end of the daily fast during the Muslim month of Ramadan. Two other Arab women and another baby, who had received Israel's medical care, managed to cross into Gaza before the explosions at the crossing,...

Military.com had the chance to watch a night shoot at COP Yosef Khel of the 60mm mortar and Mk-19 40mm grenade launcher. The Mk-19 can sure reach out and touch someone! http://shock.military.com/Shock/videos.do;jsessionid=D4105EDC18055C4B9A39065CF0FF19D1?displayContent=215184&ESRC=airforce-a.nl

A man from China decided to keep fit using two old mortars before a friend noticed the devices were still live. Former army officer Xie Long, 87, said: "A colleague told me they were defused and because they were heavy and in the right shape I took two home to use as dumbbells. "Even my two sons used to use them as well for training. I can't believe we trained with them for 30 years with nothing happening." The mortars were discovered by chance when a friend from the local police force who also specialised in explosives visited Long at...

An 8th Iraqi Army Division Soldier looks through the aiming circle to verify the positioning of a target on the final day of 120 mm mortar system training at the 8th IA Div. headquarters, March 24. Photo by Sgt. Rodney Foliente, 4th Infantry Division Public Affairs. CAMP ECHO — Soldiers from the 8th Iraqi Army (IA) Division completed a six-week mortar training course conducted at their headquarters here, March 24. “The overall training gives them a more immediate capability to hit targets with indirect fire and provide suppression and neutralization,” said Sgt. 1st Class Joel Kane, mortar platoon sergeant, 2nd...

2/21/2008 - BALAD AIR BASE, Iraq (AFPN) -- Air Force Theater Hospital Airmen here helped save the lives of seven Iraqi children who were playing soccer when they were wounded in an attack by insurgents Feb. 19 in Al Jumia, Iraq. The seven wounded children were transported to the base and were treated for various injuries. Two were treated for minor injuries and released; five required additional surgery. The children were wounded when two 82-millimeter mortar rounds struck a soccer field in the village of Al Jumia. One 12-year-old child died in the attack. Lt. Col. (Dr.) Todd Rasmussen, a...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE HAMMER, Iraq, Jan. 14, 2008 – An Iraqi policeman ran toward a group of soldiers as they approached the pump station outside Kassipa, near Salman Pak, Dec. 21. Bent over with his weapon clutched tightly, he appeared worried. Army Capt. Chris Pearson, mortar platoon leader, Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, and Army Sgt. 1st Class Robert Lucas, the platoon sergeant, meet with Sheik Hamed, a local leader in Kassipa, a village near Salman Pak, Iraq, at his home Dec. 21, 2007. Photo by Spc. Ben Hutto, USA   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available....

WASHINGTON, Sept. 13, 2007 – A mortar that killed a coalition servicemember and injured 12 when it detonated earlier this week at a coalition operating base likely was manufactured in Iran, a spokesman for Multinational Force Iraq said yesterday. (Video) “Our explosive ordnance experts assessed (that) it is consistent with the rockets of Iranian origin we have seen used in other attacks,” Army Maj. Gen. Kevin Bergner told reporters during a briefing in Baghdad. The general said experts matched distinctive markings on mortar fragments collected Sept. 11 from the impact site to unfired Iranian-made 240 mm rockets recovered in...

Hello I was hoping to get some more help with a problem. Kurt Nimmo had written an article about how the 81mm the US said was from Iran was fake. And the article got spread around so I decided to check into it and found that they do make one. I sent him the information and he updated the article with his mistake. The problem is now he is saying the websites with the information are fake. So I was wondering if I could get some help proving the links etc. His site is Link. A link to what got...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 11, 2006 – An 82mm mortar round fired by militia forces from a nearby residential area caused yesterday’s fire at a Baghdad ammunition holding area around 10:40 p.m., officials with Multinational Division Baghdad announced today. The fire ignited tank, artillery and small-arms ammunition at a forward operating base in the central Rasheed district of Baghdad. "Intelligence indicates that civilians aligned with a militia organization were responsible for last night's mortar attack," Army Lt. Col. Jonathan Withington, a spokesman for Multinational Division Baghdad, said. At the time of the attack, base personnel went to full alert. Attack aviation and...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 12, 2006 – Coalition forces in Afghanistan quelled rocket attacks along the Afghan-Pakistan border yesterday after extremists hiding in nearby hills fired on them, U.S. military officials said. “It’s a pretty common occurrence,” said Army 1st Sgt. David Christopher, the senior enlisted soldier for Company B, 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division. “It happens at least every other day. That’s about 200 rockets we’ve taken in the past seven months.” Foreign fighters, al Qaeda terrorists and common criminals often attempt to cut away at coalition and Afghan efforts to improve governance and...

Israel has been getting plastered for the last month by what amount to low-tech weapons, mainly katyusha rockets and mortar bombs. Those things are WWII vintage weaponry and it's not as if countermeasures did not exist. Granted we don't quite have the laser weapons we'd like to have to shoot those weapons down, we DO have radar which can triangulate the location of anything which obeys ballistic laws, including both mortar bombs and katyusha rockets, and put munitions down on top of the shooters before the incoming projectile even lands. Here's the question: Why is Israel not using this sort...

WASHINGTON, August 4, 2006 – Three Iraqi civilians were killed, and nine were injured yesterday when insurgents fired a mortar round at a residential area in Ubaydi, Iraq, U.S. military officials reported. The mortar round landed directly on a home. No coalition personnel were killed or injured in the attack. All nine injured Iraqi civilians were immediately medically evacuated to a nearby U.S. military medical facility. The wounded civilians’ exact condition is unknown, but four were listed as requiring “urgent surgical” medical care, officials said. Marine Corps officials said the attack was intended to strike a nearby coalition forces outpost....

Iraqi Troops’ Mortar Know-How to Improve Security Iraqi soldiers guarding a key checkpoint will be able to respond more effectively to nighttime insurgent attacks, as mortar fire will provide needed illumination on the desert floor. By U.S. Army Spc. Lee Elder 133rd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment MUQDADIYAH, Iraq, June 6, 2006 — Iraqi army soldiers guarding a key checkpoint here will soon be able to fight fire with fire - mortar fire, that is. To ensure Iraqi soldiers with 3rd Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 5th Division know how to use these weapons, U.S. soldiers assigned to C Company, 1st Squadron,...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A mortar round slammed to earth near Muqtada al-Sadr's home Sunday in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, but the popular anti-American cleric was not hurt, an aide said. Also Sunday, the Iraqi army said it had dispatched troops to investigate a report that 30 beheaded corpses were found in a village north of Baghdad. Brig. Saman Talabani, commander of the Iraqi Army 2nd Battalion, said the bodies were reported by residents in Mullah Eid, a village near the town of Buhriz, a former Saddam Hussein stronghold about 35 miles north of Baghdad. A child and at...

WASHINGTON, March 16, 2006 – A Multinational Division Baghdad soldier was killed yesterday in a mortar attack southwest of Baghdad, military officials reported. The soldier's name is being withheld pending notification of next of kin. In other news from Iraq, members of Iraq's 3rd Public Order Brigade found a roadside bomb in front of a trade school southeast of Baghdad on March 14, military officials reported today. The bomb consisted of a 155 mm artillery round, two batteries and a block of explosives, officials said. (Compiled from Multinational Force Iraq news releases.)

U.S. Army Sgt. Steven Gonzales, a combat engineer assigned to E Company, 1-68 Combined Arms Battalion, unearths a 155mm round buried in a field in south Muqdadiyah, Iraq, during Operation Dirty Harry, Feb. 20, 2006. U.S Army photo by Staff Sgt. Mark Wojciechowski More Photos Operation Dirty Harry Joint Search of Farmland Yields Mortar Round By U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Mark Wojciechowski 133rd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment MUQDADIYAH, Iraq, Feb. 27, 2006 — As part of continuous efforts to thwart anti-Iraqi forces and find hidden weapons caches, Operation “Dirty Harry” recently searched a neighborhood and farmlands in south Muqdadiya...

Baghdad mortar barrage kills 16 Doura district has often been attacked by insurgents A barrage of mortar attacks in southern Baghdad has killed at least 16 Iraqis and injured more than 40. A police source told the BBC that a total of eight mortars had been fired into the mainly Shia area of Doura. The attacks come after days of sectarian tensions that have left at least 165 dead since Wednesday. Political and militia leaders say they have made progress in talks to curb the violence that was sparked by the bombing of a major Shia shrine. However, an explosion...

Mortar Attack on Jerusalem Thwarted, Fears of 'Gazafication' 10:22 Feb 21, '06 / 23 Shevat 5766 By Ezra HaLevi Kassam rockets struck the Ashkelon power station as security forces announced the capture of a terror cell planning on firing mortar shells upon Jerusalem's Gilo neighborhood. Military censors have permitted the publication of the capture of a group of Fatah terrorists preparing to launch mortar shells at two densely populated Jewish neighborhoods in southern Jerusalem. The terrorists had acquired eight military-grade mortar shells and a launcher, as well as IDF uniforms and were prepared to fire the shells, which have a...