Shelling of a military base in Iraq

The ‘Al Sumaria’ TV reported, while citing a statement by Iraqi security forces, that two strong explosions took place on Tuesday night, at an airbase to the north of Baghdad. It happened in the province of Salah al-Din, at the airbase ‘Spiker’, also named ‘Majed al-Tamimi’. The Iraqi and the American troops are being stationed in the airbase. After the explosions, a strong fire broke out on the airbase, which was localized by the civil defense brigades that arrived at the scene. According to the preliminary data — there are no victims. The reasons for the incident were not specified. The ‘Sky News Arabia’ TV reported that the airbase came under rocket fire. The ‘Al Sumaria’ reported, without giving reasons, and while citing their sources among the security forces, about the detonation of the ammunition, stored in boxes, surrounded by concrete blocks. Recently the ‘Al-Tajji’ base in Iraq, located near Baghdad, was under rocket fire as well. 3 small rockets were fired at the base. The attack caused serious damage to one of the army helicopters, as well as the weapons shops. There were no casualties.

«Despite the introduction of the additional measures by the Contact Group, made to solidify the ceasefire — the Ukrainian troops violated the ceasefire in the area of ​​responsibility of the People’s Militia of the LPR» — said Colonel Yan Leshchenko, the head of the defense department of the LPR. «Contrary to the ceasefire agreements — the Ukrainian troops fired provocative attacks on the territory of the Republic. Since the beginning of the day, at 00:20, the Ukrainian troops from the 2nd battalion, 93 separate mechanized brigade, fired a grenade launcher at the position of our defenders near the village of Golubovskoye. At 00:50 they shot from GP-25. At 01:45 they fired 4 more shots from a grenade launcher, and 3 shots from an AGS. In between grenade launcher shots they fired from small arms» — the message says. Yan Leshchenko added that the provocative shelling began immediately after the completion of the observation flight of the OSCE UAV, which the organization uses to observe the ceasefire from 20:00 to 00:10 in that specified area.
The Indian newspaper ‘The Hindu’ reported that on Tuesday morning, the Pakistani artillery bombarded the Indian positions in two areas of the Punch sector, on the Kashmir control line. ‘The Hindu’ reported that the Indian artillery fired back. No casualties were reported on both sides. The Indian military stated to ‘The Hindu’ that on Tuesday, Pakistan violated the ceasefire in Kashmir for the 8th day in a row.

The ‘Shafaq news’ website reported while citing a statement from the Iraqi Armed Forces Joint Operations Command that an ISIS terrorist attack took place on the west of Baghdad — it killed a brigade commander of the Iraqi 7th Infantry Division, and an army officer. The terrorists attacked an army checkpoint from the desert near the city of Hit, in the western province of Anbar. The Iraqi Armed Forces high command reported that the Brigadier General Ahmed Abdel Wahid al-Lyami died «while pursuing a group of terrorists». An Iraqi army lieutenant was killed during a terrorist attack, organized by the radicals. Two servicemen were injured as well. Sources of the ‘Shafaq news’ among the security forces reported that in addition to the general — that sortie claimed the lives of 3 army officers. Earlier, the ISIS ambushed Iraqi border guards on the border with Saudi Arabia. As a result — 1 of them died, 4 were injured.

The ‘TOLOnews’ TV reported while citing the Afghan Ministry of Defense that the Pakistani army fired rockets at the Kandahar province, in the south-east of Afghanistan. The attack killed 9 people and injured 50. It was reported that the Pakistani military fired at the residential areas in Spin-Boldak county. No other details were published. There is no information on the state of health of the victims.

The ‘Tolo News’ TV broadcast a statement from the spokesman for the Qatari Taliban political office, Mohammad Sohail Shahin. He stated that the Taliban «released a group of 82 prisoners». The total number of the released Afghan servicemen reached 1,005. Thus, the Taliban has completed the process of transferring of the captured servicemen back to the Afghan authorities, according to the agreement signed between the Taliban and the US representatives in Doha. As part of that agreement — the USA intend to finally pull out their troops from Afghanistan in May of 2021 — said the US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, while speaking at the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Congress. He underlined that at the moment the USA have reduced the number of the US troops in Afghanistan «by about a half, compared to the recent peak of their numbers». “We are on the course of the further reduction” — he added, and then expressed his hope for a proper inter-Afghan dialogue. Constantine Reztsov, specially for ANNA NEWS.