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| Afghanistan |
| Seven Afghan policemen killed in gunfight with US troops |
| 2007-06-13 |
| Seven policemen were killed in a gun battle with US soldiers after troops attacked their post in eastern Afghanistan following a “misunderstanding,” government officials said on Tuesday. The US-led coalition said however its soldiers had come under fire first while trying to conduct a raid against a suspected Taliban safe house in Nangarhar province. Meanwhile, US-led troops and Afghan highway police backed by foreign war planes have killed more than two dozen “enemy fighters” in battles in southern Afghanistan, the US military said on Tuesday. The fighting erupted on Monday when the security forces were ambushed with rocket-propelled grenades and machine gun fire in Kandahar, the US-led coalition said. They returned fire and “enemy forces retreated after several of their fighters were killed in the brief firefight,” it said in a statement. About five hours later, more than 30 rebels attempted to ambush the same patrol. The security forces “isolated the attackers and then requested close air support to destroy one enemy compound and one enemy vehicle.” “During the eight-hour battle, over two dozen enemy fighters were killed,” it said. The fighting was in the Shah Wali Kot district. Separately, the NATO-led force that operates alongside the coalition said late on Monday that its troops had opened fire on a vehicle that did not halt at a checkpoint in eastern Kunar province, killing three Afghan men. Residents told AFP the casualties were school students aged 14 to 16. Three young men were also wounded, they said. NATO’s International Security Assistance Force announced meanwhile that one of its soldiers was killed and two wounded in an explosion in southern Afghanistan on Monday. Canada’s defence ministry said the casualties were Canadians. This takes to 81 the number of foreign soldiers killed in Afghanistan this year, most of them in hostile action. In other news, gunmen riding on a motorbike fired at girls outside a school on Tuesday, killing two and wounding six, authorities said. The attack took place in Logar province, south of the capital, Kabul, at the end of the school day. The attackers fled, they said. “Those who carried out this cowardly attack are the enemies of the country,” Education Minister Hanif Atmar told reporters. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #7 There are several out there like Michael Yon. InstaPundit links to them frequently. Michael Totten is his most recent. Mr. Totten has some interesting sites on his blog roll, running down the left column. ;-) |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-06-13 22:14 |
| #6 And hopefully he'll keep his head down/on when he needs to, so he can write the rest of the story. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2007-06-13 20:36 |
| #5 maybe, someday, Yon will be as well-known. and maybe, someday, he'll be as good. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2007-06-13 20:33 |
| #4 I picked up an old Ernie Pyle book a few weeks ago, called Brave Men, which starts with the invasion of Sicily. I'd say Yon does a pretty good imitation of Pyle - and maybe, someday, Yon will be as well-known. I'm only about 70 pages into the Pyle book, but I'd recommend it, if you can find it. |
| Posted by: Bobby 2007-06-13 17:35 |
| #3 The AP headline was even worse making it appear our guys used pre-emptive force. I'd like to sit down with the AP, NYT, WaPo copy editors and find out how that kind of warped anti-military attitude came about. Were they all Momma Boys or did they a big Xmas bonus from Soros? Something is really wrong with our media these days. I say this as I look at my grandfather's library that features Ernie Pyle's books which I read as a boy. No one there like him now except maybe Michael Yon but he is truly Outside the Wire like BJ. |
| Posted by: Jack is Back! 2007-06-13 09:59 |
| #2 Take it with a grain of salt: This comes from the Pakistan Daily Times. |
| Posted by: JFM 2007-06-13 04:46 |
| #1 The US-led coalition said however its soldiers had come under fire first while trying to conduct a raid against a suspected Taliban safe house in Nangarhar province. Why am I not surprised? |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2007-06-13 04:04 |