From the front page of the “Daily Times” -- NWFP, Tuesday: At 0500, artillery supported by Cobras destroyed two fortified compounds in Daygan, North Waziristan, used as “militant” staging areas for assaults against Frontier Corps security forces. The occupants (all armed) returned fire; ten were killed and several wounded during the firefight. I presume the wounded were captured by troops supporting the op, but those details weren’t included in the report.
Collateral damage included ten (unoccupied) houses in the vicinity destroyed by "stray shells from artillery fire from...Miranshah fort" and three wounded civilians.
Four klicks south of the shelling, a thrown IED killed a soldier manning a checkpoint – the remainder of his squad killed the thrower. Two soldiers were also killed in two separate drive-bys.
A bomber hit a police station in Bannu at 2030, wounding five and “militants” launched a ground assault on an Army checkpoint in Bagh Deri as a diversion for a bomb placement. No friendly casualties and the troops defused the bomb, which had been placed against a rear wall.
The connotation of “edge” here is changing from “periphery” to “pointy”…
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I had an informal debrief / brain-picking session with the new Attack Squadron Commander which would have lasted about forty-five minutes – because of staff popping in with reports and phone calls from *his* commander, I was there for about three hours. Halfway through one call, he covered the mouthpiece and said, "I'd rather be getting shot at." About ten minutes after the phone barrage ended, he grinned, shook my hand (over here, all meetings, briefings and intrusions into same require handshakes from all concerned), grabbed his helmet and started back to the flight line.
No neat pix that I can even edit for OPSEC – sorry, the aircraft types are just *too* informative, given the present context. You guys will have to wait for a while.
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Oh, all right. The power's back on and the laptop's back over 78%.
The nice thing about owning your own aircraft is that you can paint 'em in neat-o camouflage patterns, like this. Hi res, suitable for you modellers really picky about authenticity -- and OPSECed.
And, since things are getting "pointy" hereabouts, hereabouts is something pointy for John.
And, if John's running true to form, by Friday we'll be numbah one in Google for "I impaled myself on a picture of a lance."
*sigh*
"Reputable blogger" my left -- foot...
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