30 Taliban killed in Afghanistan
Sunday, 8 July 2007
KABUL, July 7 (AFP): Security forces killed more than 30 Taliban with air and ground attacks, the US-led coalition said Saturday, in the latest burst of fighting against an intensifying Islamist insurgency in Afghanistan.
The battle erupted in the southwestern province of Farah on Friday when militants ambushed Afghan police and soldiers with rocket- propelled grenades and gunfire, the force said in a statement.
The security forces retaliated and "killed over 30 insurgent fighters with accurate small arms fire and precision air strikes."
The coalition, which is helping Afghan security forces beat back the five-year-old insurgency, said it had no reports that civilians were affected by the fighting.
The Afghan interior ministry said however there were some claims of civilian casualties-a sensitive issue for the international forces with around 300 said killed by troops this year.
The ministry was also looking into allegations of heavy civilian casualties in bombing raids on Thursday and Friday in the mountainous province of Kunar on the border with Pakistan.
A resident told AFP that nine people were killed when their house was bombed and 27 more when a funeral to bury the dead was struck. NATO's military force has confirmed strikes but cast doubt on the claims of civilian dead.
"It is not clear yet what happened," interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary told AFP. "We will send people there to see what has happened. We do not have any information from the ground."
In another incident, four soldiers with NATO's International Security Assistance Force were wounded Saturday when a bomb struck a convoy in the southern province of Kandahar-the birthplace of the Taliban movement.
Fighting to end the Taliban's Al-Qaeda-backed insurgency has increased this summer, with several major battles across the country and an insurgent campaign of suicide bombings spreading into previously calm areas.
Meanwhile: A roadside blast struck a NATO convoy in southern Afghanistan and wounded four alliance soldiers Saturday, while fighting in three separate regions of the country left more than 100 militants dead, officials said. Violence is rising rapidly in Afghanistan five years into the US-led effort to defeat the Taliban,
The NATO convoy was attacked west of Kandahar city, and the four wounded soldiers were taken to a nearby military hospital, said Maj. John Thomas, a NATO spokesman.
Qari Yousef Ahmadi, a purported Taliban spokesman, said a suicide bomber had attacked the convoy.
An Associated Press reporter at the scene said the wounded soldiers were Canadian, but that could not be immediately confirmed.
The attack happened a day after officials said
The attack happened a day after officials said fierce fighting in three separate regions of Afghanistan killed more than 100 militants.
Shalizai Dedar, governor of northeastern Kunar province, said villagers accused foreign troops of killing dozens of civilians in airstrikes Friday. He said about 60 militants died in the battle but he could not confirm the reports of civilian deaths.
US-led coalition and NATO spokesmen on Friday emphasized that ground commanders had evaluated the terrain in Kunar province to prevent civilian casualties, but Dedar said villagers had reported that an initial airstrike killed 10 civilians - and that a second killed about 30 people who were trying to bury the dead.
Abdul Sabur Allayar, the provincial deputy police chief, said Saturday that 25 civilians and 20 militants were killed in clashes over three days.
The fighting - in the south, west and northeast - follows a trend of sharply rising bloodshed over the past five weeks, among the deadliest periods since the US-led invasion in 2001.
Insurgency-related violence in June alone killed more than 1,000 people, including 200 civilians, according to an AP count based on information from Western and Afghan officials.
More than 3,100 people have been killed in Afghanistan this year, according to the AP tally. About 4,000 people died in the violence in all of last year.
The battle erupted in the southwestern province of Farah on Friday when militants ambushed Afghan police and soldiers with rocket- propelled grenades and gunfire, the force said in a statement.
The security forces retaliated and "killed over 30 insurgent fighters with accurate small arms fire and precision air strikes."
The coalition, which is helping Afghan security forces beat back the five-year-old insurgency, said it had no reports that civilians were affected by the fighting.
The Afghan interior ministry said however there were some claims of civilian casualties-a sensitive issue for the international forces with around 300 said killed by troops this year.
The ministry was also looking into allegations of heavy civilian casualties in bombing raids on Thursday and Friday in the mountainous province of Kunar on the border with Pakistan.
A resident told AFP that nine people were killed when their house was bombed and 27 more when a funeral to bury the dead was struck. NATO's military force has confirmed strikes but cast doubt on the claims of civilian dead.
"It is not clear yet what happened," interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary told AFP. "We will send people there to see what has happened. We do not have any information from the ground."
In another incident, four soldiers with NATO's International Security Assistance Force were wounded Saturday when a bomb struck a convoy in the southern province of Kandahar-the birthplace of the Taliban movement.
Fighting to end the Taliban's Al-Qaeda-backed insurgency has increased this summer, with several major battles across the country and an insurgent campaign of suicide bombings spreading into previously calm areas.
Meanwhile: A roadside blast struck a NATO convoy in southern Afghanistan and wounded four alliance soldiers Saturday, while fighting in three separate regions of the country left more than 100 militants dead, officials said. Violence is rising rapidly in Afghanistan five years into the US-led effort to defeat the Taliban,
The NATO convoy was attacked west of Kandahar city, and the four wounded soldiers were taken to a nearby military hospital, said Maj. John Thomas, a NATO spokesman.
Qari Yousef Ahmadi, a purported Taliban spokesman, said a suicide bomber had attacked the convoy.
An Associated Press reporter at the scene said the wounded soldiers were Canadian, but that could not be immediately confirmed.
The attack happened a day after officials said
The attack happened a day after officials said fierce fighting in three separate regions of Afghanistan killed more than 100 militants.
Shalizai Dedar, governor of northeastern Kunar province, said villagers accused foreign troops of killing dozens of civilians in airstrikes Friday. He said about 60 militants died in the battle but he could not confirm the reports of civilian deaths.
US-led coalition and NATO spokesmen on Friday emphasized that ground commanders had evaluated the terrain in Kunar province to prevent civilian casualties, but Dedar said villagers had reported that an initial airstrike killed 10 civilians - and that a second killed about 30 people who were trying to bury the dead.
Abdul Sabur Allayar, the provincial deputy police chief, said Saturday that 25 civilians and 20 militants were killed in clashes over three days.
The fighting - in the south, west and northeast - follows a trend of sharply rising bloodshed over the past five weeks, among the deadliest periods since the US-led invasion in 2001.
Insurgency-related violence in June alone killed more than 1,000 people, including 200 civilians, according to an AP count based on information from Western and Afghan officials.
More than 3,100 people have been killed in Afghanistan this year, according to the AP tally. About 4,000 people died in the violence in all of last year.