Bulgarian troops deploy to Afghanistan

Bulgaria will send on Thursday its 21st contingent to Afghanistan.

The new unit will participate in an ISAF mission in Kabul. A total of 90% of the contingent's 165 soldiers have already participated in missions. The contingent includes 13 women and will be commanded by Svetoslav Godinov, company commander of the Bulgarian 38th Infantry Battalion.

Currently, a total of 600 Bulgarian soldiers and medical staff are currently stationed in Afghanistan in Kabul and Kandahar.

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Afghanistan: Wounded Czech soldier airlifted home

Prague, July 7 (CTK) - A military plane flew the Czech soldier who was seriously injured in Afghanistan on Wednesday to Prague Thursday evening, general staff spokeswoman Jana Ruzickova told CTK Thursday.

His condition is still very serious, Ruzickova said, adding that along with him, another two soldiers slightly injured at the end of June returned for convalescence to the Czech Republic.

A team of doctors and medical personnel was on board the Airbus A-319, Ruzickova said.

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US Marine awarded Silver Star for bravery in Afghanistan

On Monday, on a U.S. ship in the Gulf of Aden, one of the Marines from that deployment received a Silver Star for combat bravery. Sgt. Franklin M. Simmons, 28, was awarded the Marines' third-highest medal for bravery for actions on Aug. 8, 2008, while acting as a team leader for the Force Reconnaissance Platoon of the 2/7.

While on a patrol in the village of Shewan in Farah province, Simmons' platoon was attacked by "intense rocket-propelled grenade and machinegun fire," according to the Silver Star citation.

Read full story at the LA Times

Afghanistan: 60 dead in hospital bombing

A HUGE car bombing at a hospital killed 60 and wounded 120 in Afghanistan today, days after US President Barack Obama said 10,000 US forces would leave the country this year.


The brazen suicide attack in Logar province, just south of the capital Kabul, killed women and children and was described as "unprecedented" in the history of the near-decade-long Afghan war by officials.

Brit soldier in court for punching an escaping Taliban prisoner

A British soldier faces a court martial next month - for punching an escaping Taliban prisoner. 

The corporal, who cannot be named, was sent home and charged with assault after preventing the man from escaping. He has since quit the Army in disgust.

The Afghan rebel had been captured during an ambush on British forces last March - and is reported to have no interest in the trial.

A military insider called the case "disgusting" and "madness".

Patrick Mercer, a Tory MP and former Army commander, added: "We have to stop abusing our soldiers in this way."

Source: The Sun

Services held for fallen police officer, Brett Benton

Visitation services were held Tuesday for a Kentucky police officer killed in Afghanistan. Mourners gathered Tuesday afternoon at First Christian Church in Richmond to honor Brett Benton.

Benton, a Madison County native, was recently killed by an explosive device while on a civilian mission in Afghanistan. He had just left the Kenton County Police Department and had only been in Afghanistan for 23 days as a private contractor training Afghan police officers, when he was killed.

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Syracuse National Guard unit trains for Afghanistan

Fort Drum (WSYR-TV) - Hundreds of Central New Yorkers are nearly finished training for their upcoming deployment to Afghanistan early next year. Members of the 27th Infantry Brigade have rotated through Fort Drum over the past six weeks to prepare.

US Marine Matthew Shank, injured in Afghanistan by IED

A Waynesboro Marine is in good spirits after suffering back injuries when his vehicle hit an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan Saturday morning.

Lance Cpl. Matthew Shank, 21, was driving an all-terrain military vehicle when it hit the IED, according to his mother, Kim Shank. “Fortunately, it flipped the vehicle instead of exploding it,” she said this morning.

Politician found beheaded in Afghanistan

POLICE found the beheaded body of a politician in central Afghanistan yesterday, three days after he was abducted by suspected Taliban-linked militants.

Jawad Zahaak was head of the provincial council in Bamiyan, seen as one of the country's most peaceful areas and among the first wave of places to transition from Western to Afghan security control from around July.

USAF female medic injured in Afghanistan RPG attack

USAF Afc. Bryenna Brooks, age 22, suffered serious injuries last week while her mobile unit was on night patrol in Afghanistan. She is serving as a medic with the 101st Airborne Division.

Taliban insurgents fired a rocket propelled grenade at her vehicle and she suffered shrapnel wounds to her face and neck.

Other soldiers in the vehicle were also wounded including the gunner, who suffered very serious injuries.

Nobody was killed in the attack.

3,000 US troops of 45th Infantry deploying to Afghanistan

Over 3,000 troops with the U.S 45th Infantry Brigade will deploy to Afghanistan later this week. The brigade have completed training at Camp Shelby, Hattisburg, Mississippi.

This will be the largest single deployment of U.S troops since the Korean War.

Foreign traveller killed in Afghanistan

A foreign male traveller - thought to be Italian - has been shot dead in Panjshir province, Afghanistan. A report via AFP indicates that the man had been visiting emerald mines in the area with a female companion when they were confronted by a local drug addict.

The foreigner apparantly fired a pistol at the addict and was confronted by an angry mob, one of whom shot him dead.

SAS capture two top Taliban commanders

A crack SAS team has captured two top Taliban commanders without a shot being fired in a secret dawn raid in Afghanistan.

The 12 elite troops seized Maulawi Rahman and Maulawi Mohammed at a high-walled compound north of the remote town of Babaji in Helmand province.

Both men, who surrendered without a fight, are said to have been close confidants of Osama Bin Laden, the terror mastermind killed by US Special Forces in Pakistan last month.

Polish soldiers on trial for Afghan war crimes

Poland's military Prosecutor General demanded 12-year sentences for seven Polish soldiers who shot civilians in Afghanistan in 2007 at a hearing on Tuesday 24th May.

The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) soldiers fired a heavy machine gun and a 60 mm mortar at the village of Nangar Khel in the Paktika province, killing six civilians, including a pregnant woman and three children. Three other women were left badly injured.

The troops say their commander ordered them to attack the village after their patrol was attacked by militants.

If found guilty, the soldiers face between five and 12 years in prison for violating international law.

The prosecution is demanding 12 year sentences for the accused commanders and from eight to ten years for the soldiers.

Source: IANS/RIA Novosti

Ottawa Marine survives Afghanistan explosion

Ottawa Marine survives Afghanistan explosion

Taliban leader Mullah Omar killed

An Afghan local television network has quoted Afghan intelligence sources as saying that Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar has been killed in Pakistan.

"Mullah Omar was killed on way from Quetta to North Waziristan," TOLO television said in its news bulletin, Xinhua news agency reported today, 23rd May.

The private television channel, however, did not provide any further details.

Meanwhile, a security official confirmed the killing, emphasizing that Mullah Omar was killed inside Pakistan.

“It is correct that Mullah Omar has been killed," the official said.

Mullah Omar, the founder of the Taliban, was Afghanistan's de facto head of state from 1996 to 2001.

The Taliban leader had survived US military manhunt since the US-led invasion of on Afghanistan in 2001.

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U.S marine critically injured in Afghanistan

A U.S. Marine from Edinburg is reportedly clinging to life after an improvised explosive device hit his patrol unit in Afghanistan.

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Afghanistan school torched

Militants have destroyed yet another state-run school in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar, local officials have said.

Unknown gunmen torched the school building in Chaparhar district, south of the provincial capital, Jalalabad, in the early hours of Saturday, local officials told Press TV.

Two Afghan security personnel guarding the school were injured in the incident after taking a beating from the assailants.

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British aid worker Linda Norgrove gets postumous award

AID worker Linda Norgrove, who died last year after being kidnapped in Afghanistan, has received a posthumous Green Star award from the UN and Green Cross International.

The 36-year-old was killed by a grenade thrown by a US soldier in a failed rescue attempt.

Award organisers said: "Her death was a great tragedy not only for her family and friends but also for Afghanistan."

Afghanistan: 4 Iowa soldiers injured by bomb

Four soldiers with the Iowa National Guard have been wounded when their patrol vehicle hit a roadside bomb in Afghanistan during a combat mission on Wednesday 18th May.

The injured soldiers were taken to a Military hospital at Bagram.

The four soldiers, serving with 34th Infantry Division are, Sergeant Chisum Frisch, Specialist Jacob Hutchinson both from Cedar Falls, Specialist Benjamin Ward from Rowley and Private 1st-class Tanner Williams from Tama.

The military has not given further details of the wounded soldiers conditions.