Turkey bombs Iraq; Worst month in 10 years in Afghanistan; Afghans deserting U.S.

Turkish war planes continued their campaign of terror over northern Iraq on Sunday. The Turkish air strikes hit targets in the Soran district on Kurdistan. At least 150 Iraqis have been killed in air and artillery strikes in August and Turkey has expanded it's bases inside Iraq as well. Iranian soldiers killed a Kurdish shepherd just outside the border town of Haj Umran in northern Iraq on Saturday.

Elsewhere in Iraq, gunmen using silenced weapons tried to kill Ibrahim Zaidan, the media department manager at the Electricity Ministry, and another ministry employee in eastern Baghdad on Sunday. There were multiple other assassinations over the weekened in Mosul, Baghdad and Kirkuk.

Sabar Lal Melma, a former Guantanamo detainee, was killed in a joint NATO and Afghan forces raid in Jalalabad on Saturday. NATO claims the man had become a key al-Qaida affiliate after returning to Afghanistan.

Sixty-seven U.S. troops died last month in Afghanistan, making August the deadliest month for Americans in the nearly decadelong conflict. Meanwhile officials at the Pentagon and White House continue to claim that they are "making progress" in Operation Enduring Disaster. Another U.S. soldier was killed by an IED in southern Afghanistan on Saturday.

At least one in seven Afghan soldiers have deserted during the first six months of this year, complicating U.S. plans. Between January and June, more than 24,000 soldiers walked off the job, more than twice as many as in the same period last year, according to statistics compiled by NATO that show an increase in desertion. In June alone, more than 5,000 soldiers deserted, nearly three per cent of the 170,000-strong force .... presumbably to join the resistance to the continued U.S. occupation. posted 04 September, 2011

13 MORE years?; British Council hit; Scores killed, injured in Iraq; Hikers sentenced to 8 years

The war in Afghanistan is already the longest on in U.S. history, but the latest reports are that the U.S. is close to negotiating a deal where U.S. troops would remain in country a lot longer... until 2024. Thirteen more years! At this point, it's not set in stone, but the Telegraph reports that Afghan and American officials said that they hoped to sign the pact before the Bonn Conference on Afghanistan in December.

The Telegraph reports that "many analysts also believe the American military would like to retain a presence close to Pakistan, Iran and China." Karzai's security officer, in a similar vein, said, "the U.S. needs facilities." We certainly do. It's been a long war, and is getting longer - and costlier.

Meanwhile in Afghanistan this week, Suicide bombers and gunmen attacked a Kabul compound housing the British Council, an agency that promotes education and civil society. Militants used suicide bombers, automatic rifles and rocket grenades to launch an hours-long commando-style raid that killed at least 12 people, mostly policemen.

A truck bomb ripped through the main security gate of a U.S. military base in Gardez in eastern Afghanistan on Thursday, killing at least two local guards and injuring nine others. In western Afghanistan, 24 people were killed - including twelve chidlren - and 11 other were injured Thursday when a roadside bomb exploded in Herat province.

Today, gunmen set ablaze at least five oil tankers in southwestern Pakistan which were carrying fuel for NATO forces stationed in neighbouring Afghanistan. A US spy drone crashed during a reconnaissance mission in eastern Ghazni Province. A roadside bomb killed one U.S. soldier yesterday in souther Afghanistan.

In northwestern Pakistan, a suicide bomber blew himself up among worshippers offering Friday prayers at a mosque in northwest Pakistan, killing at least 47 people and wounding more than 70 in the Khyber region. TV footage showed blood on the walls and ceiling of the mosque as people collected clothes and sandals scattered by the blast. The mosque is located in an area inhabited by Kokikhel tribesmen, who are opposed to Taliban activity and have been fighting to push them out of their region.

Gunfire and grenade attacks in Pakistan's largest city of Karachi killed at least 10 people Wednesday, including a former national lawmaker.

In Iraq, more than 80 people were killed and dozens were wounded Monday in a string of attacks. In the worst incident, two bombs exploded in a busy market in the city center of Kut, killing at least 42 people and injuring more than 50. On Tuesday and Wednesday, bombings and attacks in Baghdad, Kirkuk, Tarmiya, and Mosul caused 27 casualties. A U.S. convoy was targeted in Baghdad's Mansour district, west-central Baghdad, on Wednesday night.

Two American men arrested more than two years ago while hiking along the Iraq-Iran border near Halabja have been sentenced to eight years in prison for espionage and illegally entering Iran. Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal were detained in July 2009 along with a third American, Sarah Shourd, who was released in September 2010 on $500,000 bail and returned to the United States. posted 20 August, 2011

7 US dead; Parwan governor attacked; Blast destroys Pak hotel

Insurgent attacks have killed six U.S. soldiers in the past three days in Afghanistan. One died in a roadside bomb blast on Friday. On Thursday, a roadside bomb killed five U.S. troops and wounded two others in the south. Also on Thursday, a roadside blast killed a French soldier and wounded for others near Tagab. A British soldier was killed by a roadside bomb while on foot patrol Friday in the the Nahr-e Saraj district of Helmand Province.

On Friday, a U.S. soldier was killed while conducting military operations in Iraq's south, the fourth death so far this month for American forces in Iraq.

Taliban suicide bombers killed at least 22 people in a bold attack on a governor's compound in central Afghanistan during a security meeting Sunday. A Reuters witness and others nearby reported hearing at least five explosions as Afghan security forces inside the compound of Parwan governor Abdul Basir Salangi fought back. Afghanistan's Interior Ministry said 22 people were killed and 34 wounded. The dead included 16 government employees and six police.

Elsewhere, five members of the same family were killed Saturday when a roadside bomb ripped through their minivan in in Gereshk. A roadside bomb killed five civilians, including three women, in the Gereshk district of southern Helmand province on Friday. Eight Afghan security officials who were kidnapped in central Maidan Wardak province on Friday have been killed by insurgents. The eight included five police and three officers from the National Directorate of Security.

Two separate blasts in Iraq on Saturday killed five people and wounded nearly three dozen. The first bomb, hidden in an empty rickshaw, blew up near Shiite pilgrims headed to the holy city of Kerbala. In Baghdad, a bomb in a minibus parked outside a restaurant and nightclub in the Karradah neighborhood killed three passers-by and wounded at least nine.

The year-end pullout of US forces will improve security in Iraq, Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi claimed Sunday. Hashemi, a Sunni Muslim and one of two vice presidents said a continued American military presence in Iraq would be "a problem, not a solution." A trio of Katyusha rockets fell on the Delta base in southern Kut but there were apparently no casualties.

Bomb, gun and rocket attacks killed 18 Pakistanis in flashpoints bordering Afghanistan on Sunday. A bomb attached to a timer ripped through a two-story hotel in Pakistan's southwestern Baluchistan province Sunday, reducing the building to rubble and killing 12 people.

An American citizen working for USAID was kidnapped from his home in Pakistan. Warren Weinstein was kidnapped at gunpoint from his home in Lahore early Saturday. posted 14 August, 2011