Germany Extends Afghanistan Mission
December 4, 2009 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
Germany Extends Afghanistan Mission, Germany’s parliament has voted to extend the mandate of troops serving in Afghanistan for one year but did not lift the upper limit of soldiers able to be sent there, currently set at 4,500.
The Bundestag lower house voted 445 deputies out of 594 in favour of the motion, which will ensure that German troops stay in the country until at least December 2010. Germany currently has about 4,300 troops in Afghanistan, the third-largest contributor to a 110,000-strong international force after the United States and Britain.
Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Nato’s secretary general, said on Wednesday that members of the military alliance would send at least 5,000 troops to back the US increase of 30,000 extra soldiers announced by Barack Obama, the US president, on Tuesday.
But the full extent of extra resources coming from the military alliance remains unclear.
Germany Extends Afghanistan Mission was first posted on December 4, 2009 at 4:44 pm.
Senior Anti-terror Cop Among 8 killed in Iraq Violance
December 4, 2009 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
TIKRIT: Attacks in Iraq on Thursday killed eight people, including a senior anti-terror officer who led a key fight back against Al-Qaeda in his province, police said.
Lieutenant Colonel Ahmed al-Fahel, the head of the Saleheddin province anti-terror squad, and at least three of his bodyguards were among five people killed by a suicide bomber in Tikrit, the hometown of executed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
“The attack was carried out by a suicide bomber, who was wearing a vest packed with explosives,” said Colonel Abdel Haadi of the Salaheddin joint operations command.
Seven people were wounded by the blast in a jewellery store, which struck at around 5:00 pm (1400 GMT) in Tikrit, 160 kilometers (100 miles) north of Baghdad, a police officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
In another incident in northern Iraq, two soldiers were killed at a checkpoint in the town of Mohallabiyah, 40 kilometers (25 miles) northwest of the main northern city of Mosul, when gunmen opened fire on them before fleeing.
In the capital Baghdad, one person was killed and six wounded by a bomb in Adhamiyah, a predominantly Sunni Arab northern neighbourhood, an interior ministry official said.
Senior Anti-terror Cop Among 8 killed in Iraq Violance was first posted on December 4, 2009 at 6:08 pm.
