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NATO troops kill 60 Taliban in Afghanistan
 NATO-led troops in a major offensive in southern Afghanistan have killed around 60 insurgents in the last 24 hours, said officials. The offensive, Medusa, has used air power, artillery and ground troops. It was launched a week ago to drive militants out of a stronghold in Kandahar. Later in the morning, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) lost one soldier in action, the alliance said in a statement. Afghan and NATO forces also destroyed three insurgent positions, a bomb-making factory and a weapons cache, the statement said. Meanwhile police in Qalat said they had foiled an attempt to detonate a car bomb by seizing the vehicle. Police received intelligence reports that a suicide car bomb attacker was planning to target Afghan or foreign troops on the Kabul-Kandahar highway, said Zabul Police Chief Noor Mohammad Pakteen. The information led police to the vehicle, he added. We found the explosives-laden vehicle close to Qalat, but the suicide attacker fled. Police defused the car bomb, said Pakteen. Also on Saturday, the Taliban claimed responsibility for a suicide blast in Kabul on Friday that killed two US soldiers and 14 Afghans. In Nuristan, 10 trucks supplying a US base were torched by men who appeared to belong to the Taliban, said witnesses. The militants also attacked a border post in Khost late on Friday. One Taliban body was left at the site after an hour-long battle but blood stained turbans and Afghan caps, called pakols, littered the site, indicating the militants had suffered several casualties, a border police commander said. Three policemen were wounded in the battle as well, health officials said. Posted by: Fred 2006-09-10 |
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