News – July 2023


  • US troops in Ukraine can now earn hazard pay

    July 27, 2023

    The Pentagon has authorized additional hazard pay for U.S. troops serving in Ukraine, a defense official confirmed Thursday. The bonus, known as imminent danger pay, is offered to troops who serve in areas where they could be harmed by hostile fire or mines, insurrection, civil war or terrorism. Service members in Ukraine can now earn an ...

  • Northern Ireland: Petrol bomb attack on house in Co Down condemned by unionist MLA Alex Easton

    July 26, 2023

    A petrol bomb attack on a house in Co Down has been condemned as “utter madness” by a unionist MLA whose parents died in a fire. The property targeted in Holywood was not damaged after the bomb struck a lamp post. It happened around 12.30am on Wednesday morning in the East Link area of the town. ...

  • Ukraine’s allies commit $244 million for humanitarian mine clearance, Kyiv says

    July 26, 2023

    Ukraine’s allies have committed to allocating $244 million and providing special equipment for the purpose of humanitarian mine clearance, First Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said on Tuesday. She said the donors included the United States, European Union, Japan, Germany, Britain, Norway, Sweden, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Denmark, Canada, Austria, Switzerland, Korea and the Howard Buffett ...

  • Ireland: Government approves training engagement with EU Military Assistance Mission in Ukraine (EUMAM)

    July 26, 2023

    The Tánaiste and Minister for Defence, Micheál Martin, this week received Government approval for the Defence Forces’ proposed training engagement with the EU Military Assistance Mission in Ukraine (EUMAM). It follows Cabinet approval in February of the participation of up to 30 Permanent Defence Forces personnel to the newly established EUMAM in support of Ukraine. ...

  • California: Crews Respond to Fire at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego

    July 26, 2023

    Fire crews are responding to a bush fire caused by an explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) detonation during training at the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar. The fire has spread to over 105 acres since starting at 2:34 p.m. and multiple fire crews are on the scene, both ground and air, to put out the blaze near ...

  • Belgium: Six men guilty of murder over Brussels terrorist attacks in 2016

    July 25, 2023

    Six men have been found guilty of murder and attempted murder for their part in the 2016 Brussels terrorist attacks that killed 32 people and injured more than 300. They include Salah Abdeslam, who is already serving a life sentence in France for his role in the 2015 Paris terrorist attacks which targeted the Bataclan theatre ...

  • UK: Photo ID required to buy ammonium nitrate from October

    July 25, 2023

    Farmers, growers and buying co-operatives are being warned about an impending change in the law which will require them to provide photo ID when purchasing ammonium nitrate fertilisers from 1 October 2023. According to the Agricultural Industries Confederation (AIC), the Home Office has updated its list of substances covered by the Control of Poisons and Explosives ...

  • JCREW Counter IED Program Achieves Full Operational Capability

    July 25, 2023

    WASHINGTON – The Program Executive Office for Unmanned and Small Combatants (PEO USC) announced that the Joint Counter Radio-Controlled Improvised Explosive Device (RCIED) Electronic Warfare (JCREW) Increment One Block One (I1B1) program has achieved full operational capability (FOC) ahead of schedule. The I1B1 is a family of systems sharing common hardware and software, delivering protection against ...

  • Pakistan: Police officer killed as suicide bomber detonates explosive vest at mosque in Khyber

    July 25, 2023

    A suicide bomber blew himself up inside a roadside mosque when a police officer tried to arrest him after a chase in northwestern Pakistan near the Afghan border on Tuesday, killing the officer, police said. It was unclear whether any worshippers were at the mosque when the bombing took place in Khyber, a district in Khyber ...

  • Yemen: 2 soldiers killed in blast in Taiz province

    July 25, 2023

    Two soldiers of Yemen’s government forces were killed on Tuesday in a bomb blast in the southwestern province of Taiz, a military official told Xinhua. The official, who asked to remain anonymous, said that seven others were also injured when the improvised explosive device exploded in the Al Maqatirah District of the province, adding that ...

  • Camp Lemonnier dog handler teams train together

    July 25, 2023

    Military working dog handlers from U.S. Navy Camp Lemonnier security and Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa partnered with the U.S. Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal technicians for an MWD training event at Chabelley Airfield, Djibouti, July 25, 2023. The training encompassed explosives detection, detection to aggression transition drills, and patrol and obedience training. Read more… Source: DVIDS  

  • Texas: Reeves County Sheriff’s Office recovers stolen explosives

    July 25, 2023

    The Reeves County Sheriff’s Office found stolen explosives during a traffic stop on July 24 at 11:55 a.m. A deputy was at the scene and arrested both the driver and the passenger of the vehicle after methamphetamine was found inside. While looking into the rest of the items in the vehicle, the deputy found explosives that ...

  • US Army EOD techs clear way to victory during large-scale combat operations training

    July 25, 2023

    FORT CAVAZOS, Texas – U.S. Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal technicians cleared the way to victory against near-peer enemy forces during simulated large-scale combat operations on the National Training Center on Fort Irwin, California. Army EOD techs from the 704th Ordnance Company (EOD) “Lonestar” recently returned to their home base of Fort Cavazos, Texas, following the intense ...

  • Alabama: Man found unconscious in Northport Publix parking lot with improvised explosive in vehicle

    July 25, 2023

    Safety concerns are rising in Northport after a man was found unconscious in the Publix parking lot with a rifle and ‘improvised explosive’ in the vehicle. Monday afternoon, July 17. “Having the car being prepared to be towed deputies located a jar of what appeared to be tannerite inside,” said Sergeant Mike Kowzan, Crime Suppression Tuscaloosa ...

  • UK: Army dogs should be better protected, says former handler

    July 25, 2023

    Dogs who have served in the military should have equal status to human veterans and receive better aftercare, a former Army handler has said. Canines can be the first to be sent into the most dangerous situations. And dog charity Hero Paws said they should be treated equally to people once their time on the frontline ...

  • Somalia: A suicide bomber kills at least 25 at a training academy in Mogadishu

    July 24, 2023

    A suicide bomber on Monday targeted a military training academy in Somalia, killing 25 soldiers in the capital of Mogadishu, a senior army officer said. Al-Qaida’s affiliate in East Africa, the Somalia-based al-Shabab, claimed responsibility for the attack. The officer said more than 40 others were wounded in the bombing at the Jalle Siyad military academy, ...

  • IAEA Director General Statement on Situation in Ukraine – Update 175

    July 24, 2023

    International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) experts have observed directional anti-personnel mines on the periphery of the site of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said today. During a walkdown on 23 July, the IAEA team saw some mines located in a buffer zone between the site’s internal and external perimeter barriers. ...

  • Russia’s FSB says traces of explosives found on foreign grain ship

    July 24, 2023

    Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Monday that it had found traces of explosives on a ship travelling from Turkey to the port of Rostov-on-Don in Russia to pick up grain. The FSB said the ship had been docked in the Ukrainian port of Kiliia in May, and that it may have been used to ...

  • Mexico: Arson attack at bar on US border leaves 11 dead

    July 23, 2023

    A man has been arrested in Mexico on suspicion of setting fire to a bar after he was kicked out, killing 11 people, officials say. The attack happened on Friday night in San Luis Río Colorado, which borders the United States. The bar sits just one street away from the border. Authorities say a drunk young ...

  • ‘Vigilance is key’: Al Shabaab threat rising in Kenya’s northeast

    July 23, 2023

    In Kenya’s rural northeast, roadside bombs and beheadings that killed two dozen people last month appear to be part of a troubling escalation of violence by Al-Qaeda-linked Islamists, analysts say. A regional economic powerhouse and a popular tourist draw, Kenya has not suffered a high-profile jihadist attack since 2019, when 21 people lost their lives at ...

  • Italy: Defusing operation of the WWII device in Chivasso has been completed

    July 23, 2023

    The operation to defuse the Second World War war device that had been found in recent days in via Curie has been successfully completed (and ahead of schedule). The operation concluded around 8 a.m. The intervention, which began at dawn, was completed around 8 am by the EOD officers of the XXXII Regiment of the Engineers ...

  • How controversial cluster munitions give Ukraine needed punch during counteroffensive

    July 23, 2023

    Ukraine has begun using American cluster munitions in the field and is doing so effectively, according to the White House. “They are using them appropriately,” National Security Spokesman John Kirby said on July 21. “They’re using them effectively, and they are actually having an impact on Russia’s defensive formations and Russia’s defensive maneuvering. I think ...

  • India: Scrap dealer arrested with ammunition, explosives of the Indian Army in Ahmednagar

    July 23, 2023

    The Ahmednagar district police, in a joint operation with the Military Intelligence (MI) unit of the Southern Command in Pune, arrested a scrap dealer near his house in Karjune Khare on Friday evening for illegal possession of ammunition and explosives. During searches, police recovered “18 tank rounds, five mortar rounds, eight ammunition pistol rounds, 16 pistol ...

  • Syria: Landmine kills four state soldiers in Hama

    July 23, 2023

    A landmine explosion in Syria’s eastern Hama governorate has claimed the lives of four Syrian soldiers, as reported by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) late on Saturday. The incident occurred near al-Towainan Village, eastern Salmiya when an unexploded landmine struck a vehicle carrying the soldiers, Shafaq News reported. Read more… Source: MEHR News Agency