Re-reporting, compiled and edited by Carolyn Bennett
AFGHANISTAN
Four U.S. soldiers died today when a roadside bomb exploded in southern Afghanistan. The number of foreign soldiers who have died so far in the seven months of this year is estimated to be 396 compared with 520 in the whole of 2009.
In Logar province in eastern Afghanistan, two U.S. soldiers who left their compound in Kabul City in a vehicle on Friday afternoon are reported to have been captured by the Taliban. Of the initial three soldiers captured, one is believed to have died.
Last summer in Paktika province the Taliban captured another U.S. soldier, Bowe Bergdahl. Paktika is close to Logar in eastern Afghanistan.
PAKISTAN
Twelve (estimate) ‘militants’ died today when “a U.S. drone fired four missiles into a Dwasarak village compound, about 40 kilometres (25 miles) west of Wana (South Waziristan district) in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal belt.”
Since last August 1,000 (estimated) people have died “in more than 100 drone strikes in Pakistan,” attacks which have “fueled anti-American sentiment in the country.… Militants based in the rugged tribal terrain attack US-led forces across the border in Afghanistan, where the Afghan Taliban are waging a nearly nine-year insurgency to evict the more than 140,000 foreign troops.”
In separate incidents on Saturday, a police officer died and four others suffered wounds when “suspected militants armed with guns and grenades attacked two police stations in Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore.”
Eight million people live in Lahore, which sits close to the Pakistan/India border, the site of increasing “Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked attacks in a three-year nationwide bombing campaign” that has left more than 3,500 people dead.
WEST AFRICA ─ NIGERIA
The one-year anniversary of the Nigerian Taliban uprising nears. Nigerians are scared and authorities are cracking down. The uprising last year began on July 26 and spread to four states but centered in Maiduguri, Nigeria’s mainly Muslim north. When the four-day uprising ended, the military and police had launched an assault that left 800 people dead. The police were accused of the massacre and of killing the up-risers’ leader, Mohammed Yusuf.
Members of the Nigerian Taliban are reportedly recruits who have dropped out of university studies, are unemployed youth, or are people “seeking to turn Nigeria into an Islamic state.” Of the continent’s 150 million people, an estimated 75 million (one half) are Muslim. The Nigerian Taliban also calls itself ‘Boko Haram.’ In the local dialect, the words mean ‘Western education is sin.’
AFRICA’S HORN - Middle East/Southwest Asia
At a rugby club and a restaurant on July 11, seventy-four people died when two bombs exploded in Uganda’s capital, Kampala. Somalia’s al-Shabab group took responsibility saying the attacks were in response to the deaths of Somali civilians at the hands of AU (African Union) “peacekeepers.” The U.S. has branded al-Shabab an ally of “al-Qaeda.” The group is warning of more violence in Uganda and Burundi unless UN troops pull out of Somalia.
How many (est.) in two-theater
U.S.-led
WAR DEAD?
Casualty sites reporting
July 24-25, 2010 (accurate totals unknown)
• Anti-war dot com Casualties in Iraq since March 19, 2003
[U.S. war dead since the Obama inauguration January 20, 2009: 185]
Wounded 31,888-100,000
U.S. veterans with brain injuries 320,000
Suicides 18 a day
Latest update on this site July 2
• Iraq Body Count figures
97,110 – 105,956
• ICasualties IRAQ: 4,413 U.S., 4,731 Coalition
AFGHANISTAN: 1,206 U.S., 1,966 Coalition
Sources and notes
Nigeria
Federal Republic of Nigeria, an area of 356,669 square miles (923,768 square km), Africa’s most populous country, is located on the coast of western Africa. To the north it is bordered by Niger; the east by Chad and Cameroon; the south by the Gulf of Guinea; and to the west by Benin.
Nigeria has abundant natural resources ─ notably large deposits of petroleum and natural gas. [Britannica]
Somalia
Somali (Soomaaliya, Arabic As-Sūmāl) sits on the Horn of Africa, occupying an important geopolitical position between sub-Saharan Africa and the countries of Arabia and southwestern Asia. On its north Somalia is bounded by the Gulf of Aden; on the east by the Indian Ocean; from its southern point, its western border is bounded by Kenya and Ethiopia; and, to the northwest by Djibouti. Land divided by the colonialists still form the roots of conflict among Horn and Eastern African nations and peoples. Somalis are Muslim and about half follow a mobile way of life, pursuing nomadic pastoralism or agropastoralism. They are “an egalitarian, freedom-loving people, suspicious of governmental authority.”
Exploitable oil and natural gas have not yet been found in Somalia but its deposits of the clay mineral sepiolite in south-central Somalia are among the largest known reserves in the world. Sea salt is collected at several sites on the coast. Somalia’s most valuable resources are the natural pastures that cover most of the country. Another resource scarcely exploited is the abundant fish life in the coastal waters, still unpolluted by industrial waste. A potential source of hydroelectricity is the Jubba River. [Britannica]
“U.S, casualties on rise in Afghan war,” July 24, 2010, http://english.aljazeera War.net/news/asia/2010/07/201072412826954782.html
“Taliban captures two U.S. soldiers,” July 25, 2010, http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2010/07/2010724135650505835.html
“NATO soldiers 'reported missing' in Afghanistan” (AFP), July 24-25, 2010,
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20100724/twl-afghanistan-unrest-nato-missing-575b600.html
“U.S. missile strike kills 12 militants in Pakistan” (AFP), July 24-25, 2010,
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20100724/twl-pakistan-unrest-us-missile-7e07afd.
“Nigeria on alert for Taliban uprising anniversary,” July 24, 2010,
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20100724/twl-nigeria-religion-unrest-4bdc673.html
“AU nations to boost Somalia force,” July 23, 2010,
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2010/07/2010723133917713629.html
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