US-led soldier dies in Afghanistan

Press TV, Tuesday, 24 August, 2010, 09:43:27 GMT

A US-led soldier has been killed in fresh clashes in southern Afghanistan, a NATO statement says. NATO says the latest death brings to 12 the number of US-led troops killed in Afghanistan during the past three days.

The statement did not reveal the nationally of the troop or the location of the incident. At least 457 foreign troops, nearly half of them American, have been killed since the beginning of this year. There are 141,000 foreign troops, mostly Americans, in the war-torn country.

The development comes as the security situation keeps deteriorating in Afghanistan with US-led forces being killed by Taliban fighters on a near-daily basis.

According to official figures, more than 2,000 US-led soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan so far. The increasing number of troop casualties in Afghanistan has caused widespread anger in the US and other NATO member states, undermining public support for the continuation of the Afghan war. DB/MMA

Taliban attacks Nato supply convoy

Aljazeera.net, August 24, 2010

Taliban says its attack forced the US forces to leave their nearby base but NATO denies claim.

Taliban fighters have attacked and burned 24 trucks carrying fuel and supplies to US troops in southern Afghanistan. A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the attack on the NATO convoy destined for southern Helmand province, and said the assault prompted US forces to evacuate the Singin military base.

"Twenty-four fuel and supply trucks on their way to Qalat Mousa in the southern province of Helmand have been burnt," spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi said.

"Our fighters have forced the US forces to leave their bases. Seventy per cent of the province's organisations have stopped their activities," he said.

Taliban Suffer Heavy Losses of Fighters, Equipment in First Days of Security Sweep

8/23/10 | ISAF Public Affairs Office

Bagram Media Support Center

KABUL PROVINCE, Afghanistan (August 23, 2010) –

Afghan National Security Forces,  partnering with International Security Assistance Forces, continued to conduct offensive maneuvers today aimed at setting the security conditions for the upcoming parliamentary elections.

The operation, which began Aug. 21 with an air assault of troops from the 201st Corps of the Afghan National Army, U.S. and French Soldiers, is focused on clearing the area and rooting out enemy insurgent fighters where they hide.

The joint force has killed approximately 40 Taliban fighters and captured eight key Taliban facilitators in recent days, attempting to build on the momentum from the recently conducted offensive operations in the area that were designed to locate several missing Afghan soldiers.

In addition to the insurgent fighters captured and killed, the joint force has recovered an assortment of bomb-making material including detonator cord, blasting caps, seven 82mm mortar rounds, two dozen anti-tank mines, approximately 50 rocket-propelled grenades, and an unknown amount of homemade explosives that is used in the creation of improvised explosive devices and suicide vests.

“What we are seeing are the metrics of a successful operation in an area that the enemy used to feel pretty secure operating in,” said Brig. Gen. Steve Townsend, deputy commanding general of Coalition Joint Task Force-101 and Regional Command-East.  “We are finding the raw materials used in IED construction and encountering an enemy that is clearly not happy that we are there.”

All of the munitions were destroyed in place to prevent their use against Afghan and coalition forces as well as Afghan civilians.

“We will continue to prepare the region to conduct a safe, successful election that is free of violence and intimidation by individuals that don’t want to see Afghanistan move ahead,” added Townsend.

More information will be made available as the operation proceeds.

Afghanistan attacks kill five NATO soldiers

Monday, August 23, 2010, 6:16 pm ET

KABUL (AFP) –

Five NATO soldiers were killed in attacks in volatile regions around Afghanistan on Monday, officials said.

Two French soldiers were killed and three more were wounded, French President Nicolas Sarkozy's office said, bringing France's death toll from the campaign to 47.

The dead were an officer and a soldier from the 21st Marine Infantry Regiment, fatally wounded by small arms fire during an overnight operation south of Tagab, 55 kilometres (34 miles) northeast of Kabul.

They were identified by the defence ministry in Paris as Lieutenant Lorenzo Mezzasalma, 43, a married father of two, and Corporal Jean-Nicolas Panezyck, 25, who was single.

"These soldiers gave their lives in the service of France's commitment to the peace and security of the Afghan people," Sarkozy said in a statement, condemning "murderous attacks" on NATO forces in Afghanistan.

A Hungarian soldier was killed when an (ISAF) convoy was attacked in northeastern Baghlan province, Hungary's defence ministry said in a statement.

Sergeant Judit Abraham was among 29 soldiers in a convoy travelling to the airport near Mazar-i-Sharif to catch a flight back to Hungary, Defence Minister Csaba Hende told a news conference.

Three other soldiers, all part of the Hungarian Armed Force's Reconstruction Team, were injured, the ministry said. Abraham was the third Hungarian soldier to die in Afghanistan.

In the south, a stronghold of the insurgency (Taliban resistance), a US soldier was killed by an improvised bomb, ISAF said, later adding that a second soldier, also understood to be American, had been killed in an attack.

Monday's reported deaths brought to 456 the total number of NATO troops killed in Afghanistan this year, according to an AFP tally based on a count kept by the independent icasualties.org website.

The United States and NATO have 141,000 troops in Afghanistan fighting to quell the Taliban insurgency grinding towards the end of its ninth year.

The number is set to peak at 150,000 in coming weeks, with most new deployments heading to the southern hotspots of Kandahar and Helmand provinces, Taliban territory where fighting is fiercest.

NATO: 5 foreign troops killed in Afghanistan

By Christopher Bodeen, Associated Press Writer –

Monday, August 23, 2010, 2:39 pm ET

KABUL, Afghanistan -

Attacks by insurgents (Taliban fighters) killed five foreign troops in Afghanistan on Monday, including two Americans, two French marines and a Hungarian soldier.

The attacks came in the north, south and east of the war-torn country, the military alliance said.

France's Defense Ministry said a lieutenant and corporal from the 21st Marine Infantry Regiment were killed in a gunbattle in the Bedraou Valley in the eastern province of Kapisa. Three other French troops were wounded, it said.

Monday's deaths bring the number of French troops killed in the Afghan war to 47. The French contingent to the NATO-led international force numbers about 4,000.

No additional information was given about the American casualties.

Hungary's Defense Ministry said its soldier was killed after his convoy was hit by a blast and then strafed by gunfire from all sides. The attack occurred 12 miles (20 kilometers) northwest of the town of Pul-e Khumri in the northern province of Baghlan.

Three other soldiers were wounded and the convoy managed to return to its base in the province, where Hungary administers development projects, it said.

The deaths bring the number of foreign forces killed in Afghanistan this month to 47, including 30 Americans, according to a count by The Associated Press.

They come amid a particularly bloody period for international troops, with 66 Americans killed in July — the deadliest month for the U.S. in Afghanistan since the 2001 invasion that overthrew the hard-line Islamist Taliban government.

Monday's casualties follow the deaths Sunday of four U.S. troops amid fierce fighting in eastern and southern Afghanistan.

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Associated Press writer Elaine Ganley in Paris contributed to this report.