Six Americans killed in separate attacks in Afghanistan

Six American citizens lost their lives today (6th April 2013) in a day of violence across Afghanistan.

Five were killed by a suicide car-bomber in Qalat, Zabul province. They were in a convoy of vehicles heading for a local school to give books to students, when the bomber struck. Three American military personnel, a female officer with the State Foreign Service Department and a civilian with the Department of Defense were killed. 10 people were injured by the blast, one State Department employee critically.

In a separate incident, an American civilian was killed in eastern Afghanistan during an insurgent attack.

More information to follow.

US civilian engineer James Coker

US engineer James W. "Will" Coker was murdered in eastern Kabul after he went missing last week. Some news sources suggest he was kidnapped. His body was found on Monday 5th September.

An Afghan military official told CBS News that the body had been beheaded. However, a Western official in Kabul told the press that Mr. Coker had been strangled. His body was discovered in a cave in hills near the outskirts of Kabul.

Mr. Coker was working in Afghanistan as a construction contractor for the US Army Corps of Engineers. His family, in Charleston, South Carolina, were notified by military officers of his death on Monday.

Spanish airline pilot, Antonio Planas

Spanish airline pilot, Antonio Planas, was one of the victims murdered by Taliban suicide bombers at the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul on 28th June 2011.

Mr. Planas, from Mallorca, was employed by Istanbul-based Saga Airlines and was in Kabul to pilot an aircraft that had been hired from Afghan airline Ariana. He was staying at the Intercontinental.

He was in the lobby checking out of the hotel at the time. He was wounded in the attack and died later from his injuries.

The attack began at around 10pm Tuesday, when a group of seven insurgents armed with grenades, rifles and jackets full of explosives, entered the hotel and started shooting at guests and employees.

January death toll in Afghanistan - 100 civilians, 80 police

Kabul - The death toll in January in Afghanistan reached 100 civilians and 80 police, from a total of more than 300 attacks, the interior ministry announced on 6th February. 

The figure for January represents a four per cent drop on December's figures. Most of the civilian victims were killed by roadside bombs, the favoured weapon of the Islamist militias. 

'Unfortunately one hundred of our innocent civilian countrymen and women were martyred in January and 148 others were wounded in various attacks,' Zemarai Bashiri, interior ministry spokesman said in his weekly press conference in Kabul. 

A total of 2,400 civilians were killed in 2010. 

'Police causalities jumped by 21 percent in the first month of 2011, unfortunately,' Bashari said.

Afghan security forces killed 286 armed insurgents in January, Bahsiri said. 

'Security forces were able to detain 559 suspected militants involved in destructive attacks last month. Also 574 bombs were defused by security forces all over in Afghanistan,' the interior ministry official added. 

Source: Deutsche Presse-Agentur

Denmark - complete list of fatalities

Danish military fatalities in Afghanistan

Date	Name	Rank	Age	Unit
2013
02-Jan	Jakobsen, René Brink	Oversergent	39	Rangers
2011
03-Sep	Olsen, Jacob	Konstabel	22	Hussar Regt.
10-Jul	Alexander Biune	Konstabel	23	Jutland Dragoons
09-Jan	Samuel Enig	Konstabel	23	Royal Life Guards
2010
14-Nov	Jorgeb Randrup	O-Konstabel	27	Royal Life Guards
23-Oct	Mikkel Jorgensen	Konstabel	21	Royal Life Guards
22-Sep	Simon Jorgensen	Konstabel	22	Royal Life Guards
07-Aug	Jimmi Petersen	O-Konstabel	28	Royal Life Guards
07-Aug	Erik Rolandsen	O-Konstabel	26	Royal Life Guards
21-Jul	Jonas Ploger	Lieutenant	26	Hussar Regmt
13-Jun	Martin Kristiansen	Jr Tech	33	Flyvevåbnets Førings
01-Jun	Sophia Bruun	Konstabel	22	Hussar Regmt
08-Jan	Simon Hoffmann	Konstabel	23	Hussar Regmt
2009
25-Nov	Kenneth Nielsen	Konstabel	23	Hussar Regmt
17-Nov	Rune Nielsen	Konstabel	22	Hussar Regmt
23-Oct	Michael Ebert	Sergent	23	Royal Life Guards
19-Sep	Steffen Larsen	Konstabel	23	Royal Life Guards
17-Jun	Martin Abildgaard	Konstabel	23	Hussar Regmt
17-Jun	Mads Rasmussen	Konstabel	21	Hussar Regmt
17-Jun	Andreas Brohus	O-Konstabel	26	Hussar Regmt
2008
19-Dec	Jacob Jensen	Sergent	23	Hussar Regmt
19-Dec	Sebastian Holm	Konstabel	22	Hussar Regmt
19-Dec	Benjamin Rasmussen	Konstabel	21	Hussar Regmt
04-Dec	Jacob Gronnegaard	Konstabel	22	Jutland Dragoons
04-Dec	Dan Gyde	O-Konstabel	29	Jutland Dragoons
25-Aug	Henrik Christiansen	Sergent	29	Royal Life Guards
25-Jul	Jesper Petersen	O-Konstabel	28	Jutland Dragoons
31-Mar	Christian Raaschou	O-Konstabel	24	Royal Life Guards
26-Mar	Anders Storgaard	Konstabel	21	Royal Life Guards
17-Mar	Sonny Jakobsen	Sergent	45	CIMIC Team
17-Mar	Christian Damholt	Captain	33	CIMIC Team
13-Mar	Jens Petersen	Sergent	56	Parachute Regt
24-Feb	Morten Jensen	Konstabel	21	Not reported
2007
29-Nov	Mark Visholm	Konstabel	21	Hussar Regmt
29-Nov	Casper Cramer	Konstabel	21	Hussar Regmt
16-Oct	Anders Storrud	Major	34	Royal Life Guards
26-Sep	Thorbjorn Reese	Konstabel	22	Royal Life Guards
26-Sep	Mikkel Sorensen	Konstabel	24	Royal Life Guards
03-May	Steen Sorensen	Lieutenant	24	Danish Artillery
2004
04-Dec	Unknown	Sergent		Unknown
2002
06-Mar	Kim Carlsen	L-cpl	35	Royal Engineers
06-Mar	Brian Andersen	L-cpl	26	Royal Engineers
06-Mar	Thomas Butzkowsky	Sergent	26	Royal Engineers

Civilian contract aircrew fatalities in Afghanistan

The following is an estimate of civilian contract air crew fatalities in Afghanistan since 2004.

12 October 2010: a L-100 Hercules aircraft contracted from TransAfrik crashed in a mountain crevice near Kabul on a flight from Bagram killing 6 Filipino, 1 Indian and 1 Kenyan crew. Click here for details.

23 November 2009: A Mi-8 helicopter under contract from Air Freight Aviation (UAE) to NATO forces crashed in eastern Logar province.Three Ukrainian crew members were killed in the crash. 

19 July 2009: A Mi-8 helicopter under contract from Vertikal-T (Russia) to NATO forces crashed at Kandahar air base, killing 16 passengers and crew on board.

14 July 2009: A Mi-26 helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan, killing the six Ukrainian crew members. The aircraft belonged to Pectox-Air (Moldova).

3 December 2006: A Mi-26 helicopter under contract from Vertikal-T (Russia) to US security firm  Dyncorp, crashed in Afghanistan, killing eight Russian crew.

27 July 2006: A chartered Mi-8 helicopter with 16 passengers and crew crashed en route from Khost to Kabul, killing all on board including two Dutch ISAF soldiers.

24 April 2006: An An-26 leased by the US State Department and carrying US DEA agents crashed on landing at Bost airport in Lashkar Gah, killing the two Ukrainian pilots.

11 November 2005: A Georgian registered IL-76 operated by Pakistan's Royal Airlines carrying food for coalition troops crashed near Khak-e-Shahidan village, about 30 kilometres northwest of Kabul, killing all 8 crew members (5 Russians, 2 Ukrainians and 1 Pakistani).

27 November 2004: A US Registered CASA 212 contracted by the US Department of Defense to supply American forces deployed in remote areas of Afghanistan crashed into a mountain between Bagram and Farah. Six crew members were killed.

22 February 2004: a AB-212 helicopter crashed after coming under fire 65 kilometres south-west of Kandahar city. Pilot Mark Burdorf was killed.

Crew of TransAfrik cargo plane crash

An L100 cargo plane belonging to TransAfrik crashed on 13th October 2010 while flying from Bagram Air Base to Kabul, killing all eight crew and passengers on board.

The six crew were from the Philippines. Two passengers included one from India and one from Kenya.

Filipino pilot Henry Bulos from Lipa City in Batangas, co-pilot Rene Badilla and crew members Nilo Medina and Ibelo Valbuena died along with two other Filipino crew members identified only as a Mr. Castillo (mechanic) and Mr. Padora (avionics).

Australian helicopter pilot, Captain Mark Burdorf

45-year-old Australian helicopter pilot Captain Mark Burdorf, from Adelaide, was killed in an attack in southern Afghanistan when a helicopter he was operating for US construction company Louis Berger Group came under fire from Taliban insurgents on the ground.

The incident occurred in Panjway, about 50km from Kandahar.

Two passengers on the helicopter were also believed to have been injured.