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20 Taliban killed in Afghan clashes
 Afghan government forces killed 16 Taliban insurgents after surrounding them in mountains near the border with Pakistan, an Afghan army officer said on Wednesday.
| Out for a walk, were they? Taking the night air? |
Another four Taliban fighters were killed on Wednesday after they fired rocket-propelled grenades and rifles at a convoy of Afghan troops and foreign troops in the central province of Uruzgan, a Defence Ministry spokesman said. None of the government or foreign troops was hurt.
Afghan forces attacked the Taliban near the southern border town of Spin Boldak late on Tuesday after getting intelligence reports the insurgents were preparing attacks, said an army commander, General Abdul Raziq. "We started an operation against them last night by surrounding them. The fighting went on for several hours. When we checked the place this morning we found 16 bodies," Raziq said. Only one Afghan soldier was wounded in the battle, 8 km (5 miles) east of Spin Boldak, he said.
"Mahmoud! Duck!... Ooooh! That hadda hurt!"
"My butt! They shot me in the butt!" |
Raziq said among the dead were two Taliban commanders -- Mullah Atta Jan and Shish Noorzai -- who he said had been organising ambushes and suicide bomb attacks.
| May they rest in pieces... |
Separately, the governor of the north-western province of Faryab
| Faryab? Something happened in Faryab? That's unique... |
said he survived an assassination attempt when gunmen opened fire on his convoy on Tuesday. The governor, Abdul Latif, said he did not believe Taliban or other militants were behind the attack in which two by-standers were wounded.
| My guess would be robbers or indignant neighbors that far from Pakland... |
The ambush was result of a long-standing feud in the province, Latif said but he declined to elaborate. | "Family business. I can say no more" |
| Told you it was the neighbors. It's them dawgs he keeps... |
The recent surge in violence has come as Afghanistan's NATO allies, including Britain, Canada and the Netherlands, are sending thousands more troops to the south, where the insurgency is most intense.
| ... and the Talibs, assuming they're all just like Spaniards, are trying to scare them off. |
Commanders of the U.S. military, which is hoping to cut its troops strength in Afghanistan by several thousand to about 16,000, have said they expect an increase in violence in coming weeks.
| It's spring, and a young Talib's fancy turns to rapine... |
Posted by: Dan Darling 2006-03-23 |
