|
Ten Afghans killed in Taliban ambush on Nato convoy
[Dawn] At least 10 Afghan security guards were killed Thursday when Talibs ambushed a logistics convoy destined for US-led NATO...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... forces in western Afghanistan, a local official said. The guards were securing the convoy when they came under attack in Bakwa district of Farah province, on the main highway connecting the west to the volatile south, said Naqibullah Farahi, a front man for the provincial governor. "Ten security guards have been killed and seven others injured in the Taliban ambush," Farahi said, adding that the Death Eaters also torched nine trucks carrying the supplies for foreign troops. A front man for Afghan police in the west of the country, Abdul Rauf Ahmadi, said police were immediately deployed to the area to hunt down the attackers. Taliban frequently attack convoys supplying NATO troops in Afghanistan and neighbouring Pakistain, as part of their 10-year insurgency against the western-backed Kabul government since US troops toppled their regime in 2001. There are around 140,000 US-led NATO forces in war-torn Afghanistan with foreign combat troops scheduled to withdraw by the end of 2014. Between now and then, a gradual handover is due to take place of provinces and districts currently under the control of foreign troops to their Afghan counterparts. The beturbanned goons, leaders of the bloody insurgency, were not immediately contactable for comment about the incident by telephone. But a statement on their website claimed that 24 security personnel were killed and six fuel tankers set on fire in the incident, while a number of weapons were also seized. The Taliban are known routinely to exaggerate and distort their claims in relation to attacks. Earlier this week, Afghan elders at a loya jirga in Kabul called for a "revision" of efforts to talk peace with the Taliban after September's liquidation of peace envoy Burhanuddin Rabbani  ... the gentlemanly murdered legitimate president of Afghanistan... But it said that the door should be kept open to those who wish to turn their backs on violence, whose addresses are known and who have Afghan citizenship. Western Afghanistan, close to the border with Iran, has traditionally been seen as more stable and more liberal than other parts of the country, such as the volatile southeast and east. However, man does not live by words alone, despite the fact that sometimes he has to eat them... it is still plagued by outbursts of violence in pockets where the Taliban are still influential. Posted by: Fred 2011-11-25 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=334044 |