Feral Jundi

     Insurgents have fired rockets at the base in the past, but the assault was “not something that commonly happens quite in this way,” said Army Master Sgt. Tom Clementson, a U.S. military spokesman at Bagram.

     “That’s a dog chasing a school bus. You don’t attack Bagram with 20 guys,” one U.S. official said. “Either they’re crazy or brave or both.”

***** 

     I haven’t a clue as to who the contractor is, and if they were part of the guard force or not.  If a reader can fill in the details on this, if it is appropriate, feel free to do so in the comments. Rest in peace to the fallen.

     Now on to this attack.  I tried to get as many articles as I could, to piece together how the attack went down.  The reason for this, is there might be some clues that guys can pick up on for the defense of their positions in other parts of the war.  These ever evolving tactics and strategies of the enemy are used in both Iraq and Afghanistan, and contractors as well as the military are in static security positions all over.  So understanding the dynamic of these types of attacks is essential for the defense of outposts and FOBs everywhere.

     Last week I posted a deal on suicide assaulters and the swarming attack that the Taliban and extremists have been using, and they are really playing around with the concepts to find a sweet spot for complex assaults.  I wanted to get the mental juices flowing on this, so everyone is thinking about how best to defeat this in their AO.

     The other point I want to emphasize is that the attackers were supposedly dressed like NATO or US troops.  That isn’t confirmed yet according to the article, but that is a crucial element to this whole thing.  The enemy is famous for using Afghan police or army uniforms as cover, and if this latest deal would not surprise me if they were wearing our uniforms.

     Overall though, it sounds like the defense at Bagram was able to defeat these bumbling fools, and bravo to them for a job well done.  And with attacks like this, the defense will only learn more about how to do it better, and further implement SOP’s that are effective and successful at defeating this stuff.  Attacks like this also emphasize how important it is to be constantly vigilant and focused with your job.  If you let your guard down, the enemy will definitely teach you a deadly lesson.  

     It also emphasizes the point of why you do not want the lowest bidder defending these bases out there.  You want the best value company defending a base, just like you would want the best doctor looking out for your health.

     One last thing with this.  I am completely disgusted with the accountability the government promised when it comes to keeping track of contractor deaths.  Even the current accounting measures with icasualties or Wikipedia sucks, and they have done a terrible job in keeping up or listing everyone that has been killed.  Why is it so hard for the government to keep track of the who, what, where, when, and why’s of contractor deaths or injuries?  That information should be collected(and mandated by law), and it should be available to the public to read. It is also extremely disrespectful to that fallen contractor and their family to not recognize their death.

     It also bothers me that we do not recognize the deaths of local contractors, like in Afghanistan or Iraq.  They died transporting our food or fuel, interpreting our language to other locals, working on our bases, protecting outposts, and to not recognize their sacrifice is just wrong. I know other contractors feel the same, because all of us that have been in this business for awhile have lost local national friends/contractors out there, and their deaths should be counted. Hell, guys have trusted the lives with local national contractors at outposts, or fought side by side with them in combat.  To not recognize their sacrifice is wrong…… just plain wrong. –Matt

Edit: 5/22/2010 -The name of the fallen contractor is Bryan Farr. Ms. Sparky has more on her blog about him here.

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U.S. contractor killed, 9 soldiers wounded in Taliban attack on Bagram air base

By Joshua PartlowMay 20, 2010

KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN — The Taliban’s brazen assault against the heavily fortified, city-size Bagram air base Wednesday demonstrated again the insurgents’ penchant for headline-grabbing strikes at the most potent symbols of foreign power in Afghanistan.

The attack before dawn, with gunfire, rockets and grenades, killed one U.S. contractor and wounded nine American soldiers. The U.S. soldiers at the base responded by killing 10 insurgents, including four wearing suicide vests.

It was the second ambitious attack in as many days, and possibly a demonstration of the new offensive the Taliban promised this month. As the U.S. military sends thousands of new troops to the southern city of Kandahar, the Taliban vowed to respond by targeting Afghan officials, contractors and NATO forces.

On Tuesday, a suicide car bomber targeted a U.S. convoy in Kabul, killing five U.S. troops, a Canadian and at least a dozen Afghan civilians. The attack, coupled with the death of two American troops in separate bombings, pushed the U.S. death toll past 1,000 for the nine-year Afghan war.

The attack at Bagram involved 20 to 30 insurgents and began before 4 a.m., U.S. military officials said. None of them breached the perimeter, but gun battles continued for several hours.

The Associated Press reported that the attackers wore uniforms that appeared to match those of U.S. or NATO troops. A U.S. military spokesman said the tactic “wouldn’t be uncommon” but could not confirm that it happened in this case.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for both major attacks this week. Fighting usually tapers off in the cold winter months and then accelerates in the spring and summer. American military officials have been expecting an increase in violence in response to their troop build-up and because of the season.

But the choice of Bagram as a target surprised many people. Insurgents tend to avoid confronting American military might head-on. The airfield, expanded from an old Soviet military base, houses thousands of U.S. troops, the headquarters of the military operation for eastern Afghanistan and the primary U.S.-run detention center. Insurgents have fired rockets at the base in the past, but the assault was “not something that commonly happens quite in this way,” said Army Master Sgt. Tom Clementson, a U.S. military spokesman at Bagram.

“That’s a dog chasing a school bus. You don’t attack Bagram with 20 guys,” one U.S. official said. “Either they’re crazy or brave or both.”

Story here.

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Taliban Suicide Strikes Fail at U.S. Air Base Near Afghan Capital

By DEXTER FILKINS

May 19, 2010

KABUL, Afghanistan — Taliban insurgents launched a brazen but ultimately futile assault on the American base at Bagram on Wednesday morning, igniting a ferocious gun battle that left at least one American contractor dead, a dozen soldiers wounded and 10 guerrillas dead.

Four of the insurgents wore suicide vests but were killed before they could detonate them, American officers said. Earlier in the day, a Taliban spokesman had claimed that seven fighters had struck at Bagram’s gates and allowed 30 others to get inside.

Americans officers said the attempt failed.

“At no time were Bagram defenses breached,” said Col. Wayne Shanks, a spokesman for the American command. No suicide bombings succeeded, he said.

Still, the attack represented an aggressive attempt by the Taliban to strike at one of the most important symbols of American power here. Bagram Air Base, about 50 miles north of Kabul, is one of the largest American bases in the country and the headquarters for the military campaign in the east.

While the details were sketchy, it seems clear, given the number of American casualties, that the Taliban fighters had successfully infiltrated the area and achieved some level of surprise on the heavily fortified base.

Once the battle started, the Americans sealed off the roads leading into Bagram, and kept many of the local Afghan police officers and soldiers away as well, Afghans said. Afghans living near the base said that the sound of gunfire rattled for more than an hour, and that helicopter gunships were firing on insurgents below.

Bagram Air Base, built by the Soviet Union in its doomed attempt to subdue the Afghans in the 1980s, is ringed by several layers of defenses. The population in the area, mostly ethnic Tajik, is thought to be friendly to the Americans.

The assault came on the heels of an attack on Tuesday by a suicide bomber in Kabul, who rammed an explosives-laden bus into an American convoy, killing 18 people, including 5 American soldiers and a Canadian officer.

The two attacks appeared to be part of a wider campaign directed at the capital and its environs. In recent days, the Taliban have smuggled as many as five suicide bombers into the area, an American military official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Some of those bombers may have been killed during the assault on Bagram.

In addition to killing NATO troops, the Taliban’s goal appears to be to highlight the inability of the Afghan government to hold the capital and the areas around it and to generate maximum publicity.

The back-to-back attacks came as American and Afghan leaders were preparing to launch a major offensive in the city of Kandahar to break the hold of the insurgents in southern Afghanistan. That campaign is expected to feature several military operations over the course of the summer.

Bagram has come under attack before, most notably in February 2007, during a visit by then Vice President Dick Cheney. A suicide bomber outside the gates blew himself up and killed 23 people. Mr. Cheney, a mile away, was not harmed.

Abdul Waheed Wafa and Sharifullah Sahak contributed reporting.

Story here.

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The Long War Journal: US troops repel complex Taliban assault on Bagram Airfield

by Bill Roggio

May 19, 2010

US troops beat back a complex Taliban assault on the largest Coalition base in Afghanistan, killing an estimated 12 Taliban fighters.

The Taliban launched the attack late at night and attempted to penetrate a gate at Bagram Airfield, which is north of Kabul. Heavily armed Taliban fighters, including four fighters wearing suicide vests, attempted to storm the gate but were repelled by US troops manning the security perimeter. “The attack included rockets, small arms and grenades,” the International Security Assistance Force said in a press release.

ISAF estimated that “nearly a dozen” Taliban fighters were killed during the failed assault. “Four of the insurgents killed were intended suicide bombers,” ISAF reported.

One US contractor was killed and nine soldiers were wounded during the Taliban attack. “Two of the nine wounded were returned to duty, all others are currently in stable condition,” ISAF said.

Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban’s top spokesman released a statement claiming that “more than 45 US-NATO soldiers killed and scores injured in the attack on Bagram airbase.” He claimed that 20 Taliban fighters penetrated the base’s perimeter. Mujahid released the statement on The Voice of Jihad, the Taliban’s online propaganda arm.

The today’s attack is the second major strike against the Coalition in central Afghanistan in two days. Yesterday, a Taliban suicide bomber killed a Canadian colonel, five US soldiers, and 12 Afghan civilians in an attack on a convoy in Kabul.

The Taliban attacks are designed to break the will of the Coalition and demonstrate that its forces can strike in the heart of Afghanistan. Bagram Airfield is the largest Coalition base, and hosts tens of thousands of Coalition troops. The base is also the main hub for Coalition operations.

Today’s attack is the latest in a series of Taliban terror assaults in Afghanistan [see list below for the larger attacks]. Similar attacks have also taken place in Pakistan, Yemen, Iraq, and India.

List of major complex attacks and suicide attacks in Afghanistan since January 2008:

May 19, 2010: US troops repelled a complex Taliban assault on Bagram Airfield. Twelve Taliban fighters, including four suicide bombers, and a US contractor were killed.

May 18, 2010: A suicide bomber killed 12 civilians and six ISAF soldiers in an attack on an ISAF convoy in Kabul.

May 5, 2010: A team of seven suicide bombers and two shooters entered the office of the governor of Nimroz province. The attack was defeated by Afghan police.

Feb. 26, 2010: A Taliban assault team killed 17 people in an attack on an Indian guesthouse in Kabul.

Jan. 18, 2010: A Taliban assault team struck at the presidential palace, the Justice Ministry, and the Central Bank. Seven Taliban fighters, three policemen, and two civilians were killed.

Oct. 24, 2009: An al Qaeda and Haqqani Network suicide assault team killed five foreign UN workers and three Afghans in an attack on a UN guesthouse in Kabul.

Oct. 8, 2009: A Taliban suicide bomber killed 17 civilians and wounded more than 80 in an attack outside the Indian embassy in Kabul.

Sept. 2, 2009: A Taliban suicide bomber assassinated the deputy chief of Afghanistan’s intelligence service and the leader of the provincial council during an attack at a mosque in Laghman province. The two Afghan leaders were among 23 people killed in the deadly attack.

July 24, 2009: Police in Khost City killed seven Taliban fighters as they attempted to assault the provincial police headquarters and a bank.

July 21, 2009: Suicide bombers armed with rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles attacked government installations and a US base in the cities of Gardez and Jalalabad. Eight Taliban fighters and six Afghan security personnel were reported killed in the failed attacks.

May 12, 2009: The Taliban launched a multi-pronged suicide attack against government and security installations in Khost province, a stronghold of the deadly Haqqani Network. Eleven Taliban fighters and nine civilians were killed in the daylong assault.

April 1, 2009: Four Taliban suicide bombers disguised as Afghan soldiers attempted to kill the Kandahar provincial council after entering the compound. Security forces foiled the attack but seven civilians and six policemen were killed during the fighting.

March 30, 2009: A suicide bomber wearing a police uniform penetrated security at a police compound in Kandahar’s Andar district and killed five policemen and four civilians after detonating his vest.

Feb. 11, 2009 The Taliban conducted a multi-pronged assault on two Afghan ministries and a prison headquarters in the capital of Kabul that resulted in 19 people killed and more than 50 wounded.

Feb. 2, 2009: A suicide bomber detonated his vest inside a training center for police reservists in the town of Tarin Kot in Uruzgan province. Twenty-one Afghan police were killed and seven more were wounded in the suicide attack.

Dec. 4, 2008: A three-man suicide team stormed the headquarters of Afghanistan’s intelligence service in Khost province. Six intelligence and police officials were killed and another seven were wounded.

Sept. 7, 2008: Two Taliban suicide bombers entered a police headquarters in Kandahar province and searched for a senior police general in charge of border security at the Spin Boldak crossing point. Six policemen were killed and 37 were wounded, including the general, in the bombings.

Sept. 6, 2008: A Taliban suicide bomber penetrated a secure government building in the southwestern province of Nimroz and detonated his vest. The attack killed six people, including Nimroz province’s intelligence chief and his 20-year-old son.

July 7, 2008: A suicide car bomber hit the outside wall of the Indian embassy in a crowded neighborhood in Kabul, killing 54 people and wounding more than 140.

On April 27, 2008: A Taliban assault team attempted to assassinate President Karzai during a military parade outside Kabul. Two members of parliament were killed and 11 others were wounded during the barrage of automatic gunfire and mortar shells.

Jan. 14, 2008: A suicide assault team from the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani Network raided the heavily secured Serena Hotel. Terrorists wearing suicide vests breached the front gate with a suicide attack and then entered the hotel and began shooting civilians. A Norwegian journalist, an American aid worker, and at least five security guards were killed in the assault.

Story here.