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| Afghanistan |
| 3 Taliban, 2 Afghans killed |
| 2006-04-24 |
| Fierce fighting across southern Afghanistan killed at least three Taliban militants and two security personnel on Sunday, as Britain’s defence secretary said military offensives must continue to prevent Al Qaeda and Taliban troops regaining power here. Afghan police and soldiers surrounded Taliban militants hiding in a village in the volatile Gelan district of Ghazni province before launching a gunfight at about 1:30 pm, said provincial Governor Haji Sher Alam. Both sides used AK-47 assault rifles in the ongoing battle, about 125 kilometres southwest of the capital Kabul, which left three Taliban fighters and one policeman dead, Alam said. Earlier on Sunday, Taliban militants attacked a US-backed Afghan construction company on the Uruzgan-Kandahar highway near a southern Kandahar village where a day earlier four Canadian soldiers died in a suspected Taliban roadside bombing. A group of heavily armed militants launched a two-hour gun battle against the headquarters of the Thavazoo company in Shah Wali Kot district, about 40 kilometres north of Kandahar city, said Haji Mohammed Youssef, the company’s director. One guard was killed and two wounded before the remaining security personnel fled, Youssef said. The Taliban fighters then entered the compound, burned 14 trucks and bulldozers and stole equipment before escaping. Youssef said coalition forces gave him a contract to build a 40-kilometre stretch of road, 25 kilometres of which had been completed. “Coalition forces are giving us money to help rebuild our country, but the enemies of Afghanistan don’t want us to succeed,” he said. Coalition troops must maintain the offensive against Taliban and Al Qaeda militants in Afghanistan to prevent their return to power, Britain’s visiting defence secretary said on Sunday. John Reid also suggested that British troops would remain in Afghanistan for at least three more years, including in the volatile Helmand province, which he described as one of this country’s most dangerous regions. “We would be perfectly happy to leave in three years time without firing one shot because our mission is the reconstruction (of Afghanistan),” Reid said during a press conference in Kabul. “The greatest danger of all for the people of Afghanistan and the people of the United Kingdom would be if Afghanistan ever again came under the rule of a Taliban regime prepared to protect Al Qaeda or terrorist groups,” Reid said. “I think it is no secret that Helmand province is a more difficult area than either the north or the west,” he said. “We have known that for some time, which is why there is such a strong force (there).” Rising violence is a growing concern for nations contributing troops to a force operating under a NATO mandate in Afghanistan. The force is to rise from its current 10,000 soldiers to about 21,000 by November as it gradually assumes command of all international troops in the country. Some 6,000 mainly British, Canadian and Dutch soldiers have started deploying in the south, which abuts the mountainous frontier with Pakistan. US and Afghan soldiers also arrested 16 Taliban members in two raids Saturday in the southern Zabul province, which neighbours Kandahar, local Afghan army commander Gen Rahmattalluh Roufi said on Sunday. “The Americans are questioning them now to see if they are important Taliban members or not,” Roufi said. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #1 More good news our TSM (Terrorist Supporting Media) will not cover. It's not anti-American and no USA troops were killed by porKoranimals. |
| Posted by: Angavitch Uneretch8855 2006-04-24 17:19 |