Afghan troops were hunting up to 200 suspected Taliban after 20 militants were killed by US warplanes and Afghan ground forces during a clash with militants hiding out in mountains bordering Pakistan. The planes on Tuesday bombed Arghistan, near the border town of Spin Boldak about 470 kilometers (290 miles) southwest of Kabul, where around 200 Taliban suspects armed with rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) and AK-47 rifles were hiding, Kandahar intelligence chief Abdullah Laghmanai said Wednesday. "During the operation 20 Taliban were killed, two of them were senior commanders," Laghmanai told AFP. He named the two Taliban commanders as Qari Faizullah and Qari Ali Mohammed. "The operation is still on going with government troops chasing down Taliban to the Pakistani border. According to our intelligence we estimated that 200 Taliban were in the area and now they have scattered." | Turn on the light and cockroaches do the same. |
Kandahar military spokesman General Abdul Wasay said US air support came in when Taliban fighters attacked the district. "But government troops in the district, numbering 60 to 100 people, resisted and defeated their attackers," he said, leaving more than 20 Taliban dead from either the bombardment or ground forces. | Good for the Afghan troops, stood their ground and fought. |
A US military spokesman said coalition planes bombed an area north of Spin Boldak after a US patrol came under attack from an unknown number of insurgents but could not confirm if any attackers were killed. Lieutenant Colonel Tucker Mansager also could not confirm whether it was the same incident. "Coalition forces were engaged by anti-coalition militants down in that vicinity, south of (Zabul provincial capital) Qalat and north of Spin Boldak," he said. Arghistan is about 60 kilometers (37 miles) north of Spin Boldak. "Ground forces first called in air support as a show of force, but when the enemy continued to engage the coalition forces upgraded their request to precision ordnance." | "Viper One, they say they'd rather die than surrender. Help them with that, will ya?" |
There were no reports of US casualties during the exchange of fire which ended shortly after the bombing, he added. "My impression is that after the use of those precision munitions that the engagement ended rather abruptly so I would say that at least that group of anti-coalition militants is on the run." | Now there is a understatement |
Afghan troops pursuing the fleeing Taliban fighters along the border had chased them to a village called Lwary, Wasay said. Laghmanai said the US-led coalition provided air support, but no US troops were on the ground. |