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Attackers Who Killed U.S. Paratrooper Later Fired Rockets at U.S. Base
The attackers who shot and killed a U.S. paratrooper in eastern Afghanistan over the weekend later fired rockets at an American base in the same area, the military said Monday. The rocket attack, which caused no casualties, followed a gunbattle Saturday near Shkhin that killed one enemy fighter, wounded another and left U.S. 82nd Airborne Division paratrooper Sgt. Steven Checo dead, the U.S. military statement said.Steven Checo, of New Jersey, was the first U.S. soldier killed in combat in Afghanistan since August, when a soldier died of wounds suffered in a July ambush. After the Shkhin skirmish, the group of seven to nine attackers carrying AK-47 assault rifles and other military equipment fled across the border into Pakistan, the U.S. military said. Need to pay a visit to these guys home base someday soon. U.S. Special Forces troops, who were conducting an investigation of the incident in the same area, said the same group fired six rockets at the U.S. base in Shkhin several hours later. Six alarm clocks -- apparently timing devices -- were found nearby, the statement said. Rockets, many Chinese-made and connected to crude timers, have been fired frequently at U.S. troops stationed at the Khost airfield in eastern Afghanistan. The rockets, sometimes leaned against rocks, are difficult to aim and have rarely caused casualties. Harassing fire, they know if they hang around the launch point, they're gonna catch hell. In the most recent incident, a rocket hit near the Jalalabad airport, missing an Afghan army garrison and causing no injuries, police said. The attack occurred one day after the Afghan authorities in Jalalabad seized scores of other rockets destined for Taliban and Al Qaeda fugitives. No arrests were made in the seizure near the eastern border with Pakistan. As long as these guys have a safe base of operations, these attacks are going to keep happening Posted by: Steve 2002-12-23 |
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