Archive for December, 2008

The US has pledged to provide extra troops to contain the insurgency

International military forces in Afghanistan say they have killed 17 militants in two separate operations.

The US-led coalition force said it had carried out air and ground attacks, killing 11 militants in Sarobi, about 60km (40 miles) north-east of Kabul.

Separately, the Nato-led force said it had killed six militants in an air strike in eastern Afghanistan.

Fighting has intensified in Afghanistan in the past year with increased attacks by Taleban militants.

Ambush

In the Sarobi strike, the US military said it was targeting a commander wanted for trafficking weapons and fighters through the region.

A coalition statement that its soldiers killed two militants when they fired on approaching troops.

“Still receiving fire, coalition forces engaged the militants with close-air precision munitions and killed the remaining nine militants,” the statement added.

Sorobi district is a well-known for its insurgent ties, says the BBC’s Martin Patience in Kabul.

Ten French soldiers were killed and 21 French troops wounded in an ambush by Taleban fighters in Sarobi in August this year – it was one of the heaviest tolls suffered by the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf).

Meanwhile, the Nato force said its aircraft “identified eight insurgents with weapons moving into fighting positions” in an unspecified area of eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday.

“The aircraft engaged the insurgents, killing six,” it said in a statement.

Earlier this month, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates ordered the deployment of an additional combat aviation brigade to Afghanistan early next year.

The decision to send about 2,800 soldiers, equipped with both attack and transport helicopters, comes as part of an increased effort to counter the insurgency.

There are currently 31,000 US troops in the country, 14,000 of whom are part of the 51,000-strong Isaf.

Two people have been killed and another 20 wounded, including two US soldiers, in a suicide car bomb attack in northern Afghanistan, officials say.

The bomb exploded in the town of Charikar, outside the offices of the Parwan provincial governor, 50km (30 miles) north of the capital, Kabul.

The two people killed were Afghan civilians, the officials said.

The bombing comes amid rising violence, with Taleban rebels stepping up attacks on Afghan and foreign troops.

Separately, at least two people, including a child, were killed by remote-controlled blasts in the town of Spin Boldak in the southern province of Kandahar.

Reinforcements

A unit of US troops from the Bagram base near Kabul was meeting the provincial governor at the time of the blast in Charikar.

A US military spokesman said two US soldiers outside the compound were among those injured.

Parwan province has been relatively free of insurgent violence but correspondents say attacks closer to and inside Kabul are becoming more frequent.

The attack came a day after 14 Afghan schoolchildren died when an explosives-laden lorry detonated outside a government building in south-eastern Khost province.

The US plans to send between 20,000 and 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan over the next six months to counter the rising violence.

The bomb appeared to be aimed at a meeting of tribal elders

A suicide bomber has hit a government building in eastern Afghanistan, killing 16 people, 14 of them children, local police said.

A doctor at a hospital in Khost said 58 people – many of them children – were hurt in the attack, close to a school.

Earlier, two Canadian soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in Panjwayi district, a Taleban stronghold in southern Kandahar province.

An Afghan interpreter and a policeman working with them were also killed.

“These soldiers died honourably, helping bring security to Afghanistan,” said a spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) in a statement.

Taleban rebels have stepped up attacks on Afghan and foreign troops this year.

The deaths took to 106 the number of Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan since their mission began in 2002.

In Khost province, the attacker detonated an explosives-laden car he was driving when police opened fire to prevent him from reaching the government building where officials were meeting.

Police said tribal elders and local leaders were holding talks with the district governor about security and planning for next year’s presidential elections.