Six Colombian soldiers are jailed for killing a man and passing him off as a guerrilla killed in combat, in order to gain extra holiday and promotion.

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Colombia troops jailed for murder

The UN condemns as “heinous” a suicide attack in Yemen that killed more than 90 soldiers, which al-Qaeda said it carried out.

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UN condemns Yemen suicide bombing

Colombian officials say left-wing Farc rebels have killed 12 soldiers during a patrol in a remote rural area near the sensitive border with Venezuela.

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Farc kills 12 Colombian soldiers

A small number of British soldiers could remain in Afghanistan after forces withdraw in 2014, a senior UK government official says.

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UK force ‘to stay in Afghanistan’

Somali government soldiers are among five people killed in two bomb attacks in the capital Mogadishu blamed on al-Shabab Islamist fighters.

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Bombs kill soldiers in Mogadishu

Soldiers exposed to roadside bomb blasts and athletes who have suffered repeated concussions show the same long-lasting changes to brain cells, a new study reports. The complicated research connects two rapidly increasing health problems and adds to the ominous message emerging from recent head-trauma research. Read full article > >

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Brain damage from IED blasts and football concussions is similar, study shows

The attacker escaped after opening fire on coalition soldiers in remote eastern Afghanistan on Friday, officials said.

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NATO Soldier Killed by Assailant in Afghan Army Uniform

An upside-down house, lawnmower madness and dancing soldiers – it’s the week’s weird and wonderful video stories in Newsbeat’s Odd Box with Dominic Byrne.

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VIDEO: Lawnmower madness – it’s Odd Box

The enemy may be losing on the battlefield in Afghanistan, but he is trying to win the public relations war with the help of misconduct among a few U.S. military personnel, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told soldiers Friday.

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Panetta to GIs: Misconduct aids enemy

Two British soldiers, from The Royal Logistic Corps, have been killed in southern Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence says.

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Two soldiers die in Afghanistan

The soldiers of Charles Taylor, who on Thursday was found guilty of war crimes, ripped apart the lives of a reporter’s family members in the 1990s.

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Recalling Horrors in Liberia Wrought by Taylor

A friend asked for my reaction to the Los Angeles Times’ publishing two photos last week of American soldiers posing tauntingly with the bloodied bodies of dead Afghan insurgents. The photos were reportedly among 18 provided by a U.S. soldier who wanted “to draw attention to the safety risk of a breakdown in leadership and discipline.” Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta had asked the Times and other media publications to suppress the photos for fear that publication would incite more anti-American violence, and even deaths. The other media complied with Panetta’s request; the Times did not. It’s hard to judge this without being privy to the conversation between Panetta and Times editors. According to news reports, Panetta apologized for the soldiers’ actions, claiming that such brutality was against military policy, and that an investigation was underway. Times editors cited the public’s need to know more about this largely forgotten war. Still unknown is how widespread this phenomenon is. Were the photographed soldiers the proverbial few rotten apples, or the tip of an unsavory iceberg? But even this question begs a more important one: Why are we still in Afghanistan?

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An American Debacle in the Graveyard of Empires

COMBAT OUTPOST SAYED ABAD, AFGHANISTAN — In a big war, Army Spec. Cherry Maurice believed that one small gesture could make a difference. Temperatures at her mountain base plunged to 20 degrees below zero in January, and snow covered the ground. Maurice noticed that the eight Afghan workers on the outpost were coming to work in rubber flip-flops. The 35-year-old soldier labored with the men in the outpost’s kitchen, which is not much bigger than a walk-in closet. She dug into her personal savings and spent $135 to buy them eight pairs of boots. Read full article > >

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U.S. soldier’s gift to Afghan workers at her base underscores divide

We’ve seen these images before. Photographs of victors posing with the corpses of their enemies. Photographs of the vanquished subjected to posthumous humiliation. We’ve seen these images before. From Iraq and Afghanistan. From Bosnia and Berlin. Rwanda and Darfur. Okinawa and Vietnam. Read full article > >

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Essay: We’ve seen photos before like ones of U.S. soldiers with Afghan corpses

The US condemns the conduct of several American soldiers shown apparently abusing the corpses of suspected Afghan insurgents in 2010.

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US condemns Afghan bodies ‘abuse’