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Afghan and U.S.-led troops kill up to 35 Taliban
U.S.-led coalition and Afghan forces killed up to 35 Taliban insurgents after the militants attacked two towns in eastern Afghanistan near the Pakistan border overnight, a police chief said on Wednesday. The Taliban have launched a number of ground assaults and rocket attacks on isolated towns in eastern Afghanistan in the last week, part of a rising wave of violence in the east that Afghan and U.S. officials have said is the result of de-facto ceasefires with militants in neighbouring Pakistan.About 100 Taliban insurgents attacked the towns of Gomal and Sarobi in Paktika province overnight, but But the U.S. military said 'approximately 22' militants were killed by coalition air support after the attacks. 'When coalition air support arrived, the 22 militants who attacked the district centres were positively identified and killed,' the statement added. The Afghan government and some of its Western allies are growing increasingly frustrated by Pakistan's failure to clamp down on militant activity in its tribally ruled border regions. The new Pakistani government has halted military offensives against pro-Taliban groups on its side of the border and has attempted to seal peace deals with the militants to try to stem violence which has killed hundreds in Pakistan in the last year. But Afghan and Western officials have said the peace talks free up the militants to mount more attacks in Afghanistan. Posted by: Fred 2008-06-26 |
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