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| Afghanistan |
| 38 Taliban, NATO soldier killed in Afghanistan |
| 2007-04-14 |
| US and Afghan troops backed by warplanes killed more than 35 Taliban militants during a five-hour battle in a bitterly contested area of southern Afghanistan, the US-led coalition said on Friday. Meanwhile a NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) soldier was killed in a separate gunbattle with rebels on Friday, becoming the 12th foreign soldier to die in Afghanistan in a week. US special forces and Afghan troops also killed three Taliban who pinned down a group of civilian contractors after their helicopter came down in another area. The fighting on Thursday in which most of the rebels were killed took place in the Sangin district of Helmand province, which around 1,000 Afghan and international troops wrested from insurgent control at the weekend. “More than 35 Taliban fighters were killed by ANA (Afghan National Army) and coalition forces during the five-hour afternoon battle,” the coalition said in a statement. The NATO soldier, whose name and nationality were not revealed, was killed in a firefight with rebels in an unnamed part of southern Afghanistan on Friday, ISAF said in another statement. Two other NATO troops were injured. Separately on Thursday five civilian contractors had to be rescued after their helicopter made a forced landing in southeastern Ghazni province late on Thursday. The Taliban earlier said it had “hit” a NATO helicopter there. “Three extremists were killed in the engagement,” a coalition statement said. Oh, that worked well, didn't it? Two French aid workers were apparently kidnapped by the Taliban in southwestern Nimroz province on April 3. French President Jacques Chirac called his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai late on Thursday to “demand his support” for efforts to free them, according to Karzai’s office. Separately, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said Quebec City on Thursday that NATO commanders had asked for 3,400 additional police and army trainers for Afghanistan, a need the US wants European allies to fill. “NATO has asked for about 3,400 training positions, and quite frankly we’re having trouble,” Gates said after meeting with defence ministers from countries with troops in Afghanistan’s volatile southern region. Gates said the group, including ministers from Canada, Britain, Australia and other countries, talked about approaching European allies that do not have troops engaged in combat in Afghanistan to fill the training requirement. He said the US could provide some of the trainers, but he could not say how many. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 RIP, soldier. May your country learn from your sacrifice. While 3800000000:0 would be better, 38:1 isn't bad. |
| Posted by: Jackal 2007-04-14 11:54 |