Two US-led troops killed in Afghan war

Press TV, Sun Oct 10, 2010 1:37PM Share

US-led troops patrol a village in Afghanistan. Two more US-led troops with the International Security Assistance Force have lost their lives in southern Afghanistan, NATO says.

The US-led military alliance said the soldiers were killed in a bomb blast but did not reveal the nationality or the exact location of the attack.

Sunday's deaths come just a day after four Italian troops were killed in a similar bomb explosion in the country's west.

This year is already the deadliest so far with 574 foreign troops killed. The figure surpasses the toll for the whole of last year.

Given the rising unpopularity of the war, several NATO member states are demanding an immediate withdrawal of troops.

JR/AKM/MMN

2 Taliban commanders killed; 2 NATO troops die

By  Robert Kennedy, Associated Press Writer –

Sun Oct 10, 2010, 7:49 am ET

KABUL, Afghanistan –

A senior Taliban commander and two other insurgents were killed in a firefight with NATO and Afghan forces in western Afghanistan, the military alliance said Sunday, as the government named a chief of a new council tasked with talking to insurgent groups.

Also Sunday, five civilians died in a roadside bombing in the east, and two NATO troops were killed in a blast in southern Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, a suicide car bomber targeting a convoy of foreign forces wounded two civilians in eastern Khost province's Mandozai district, said provincial police chief Gen. Abdul Hakim Hsaqzai.

Intelligence sources tracked a Taliban commander identified as Mullah Jamaluddin as he traveled in western Badghis province's Murghab district Saturday, and NATO and Afghan forces moved in. A gunbattle erupted and the Taliban leader and two militants were killed, NATO said.

Provincial spokesman Sharaf Uddin Majidi confirmed NATO's account.

"Jamaluddin was a very important person who received support from much of the local community," Majidi told The Associated Press. "His death will certainly lead to increased peace and stability."

Afghan President Hamid Karzai announced Sunday the recently formed "peace council" had selected former President Burhanuddin Rabbani as its chairman. In a speech to the council, Karzai praised their choice, saying Rabbani's leadership would be "good for Afghanistan."

Rabbani was one of a group of mujahedeen leaders who fought the Soviets in the 1980s. He was Afghanistan's president between 1992 and 1996, when he was ousted by the Taliban.

The 70-member panel, which formally began work on Thursday, was created by Karzai to have a structure in place to guide talks with the Taliban and other insurgent groups.

"How much longer can we wait for foreigners to establish security for us? How much longer can we witness explosions in our mosques and see our leaders killed?" Rabbani said as he accepted the position. "Peace will come when we cooperate."

Publicly, the Taliban have said they won't negotiate until foreign troops leave the country, yet many Taliban leaders have reached out directly or indirectly to the highest levels of the Afghan government. There have been no formal negotiations yet between the Afghan government and the Taliban, only some contacts and signals from each side, according to Karzai's spokesman, Waheed Omar.

Another Taliban leader, Ajmal Agha Jan, also died Saturday in southern Helmand province's Marjah district after he pulled a pistol on a joint force that raided his compound, NATO said in a statement.

Six senior Taliban were killed in operations in Badghis and neighboring Faryab province over the past two weeks, NATO said.

The Taliban has accused NATO of engaging in a propaganda campaign to demoralize the insurgents' moral by inventing Taliban leaders and alleging they were killed or captured.

Violence continues unabated throughout much of Afghanistan. The focus of the U.S.-led war, which entered its 10th year last week, has been on the south, but coalition troops are increasingly fighting resilient militants in the west, east and north.

A family of five was killed by a roadside bomb that struck their vehicle in eastern Paktia province Sunday, said Rohullah Samon, spokesman for the provincial governor.

The nine-year war has inflicted a mounting toll on Afghan civilians. A U.N. report said more than 1,200 Afghans died and nearly 2,000 were wounded between January and June this year.

Two NATO troops were killed in a roadside bomb attack Sunday in southern Afghanistan, an alliance statement said, without giving nationalities or a specific location.

On Saturday, four Italian troops died in a roadside blast in western Farah province.

Sunday's deaths brought to 26 the number of NATO forces killed this month. At least 2,014 NATO service members have died since the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan on Oct. 7, 2001, according to an AP count.

Britain announced Saturday that kidnapped British aid worker Linda Norgrove died in a failed rescue operation by NATO forces.

Norgrove, 36, died Friday in eastern Kunar province when captors detonated a bomb as NATO forces attempted to free her, an official said. She was abducted in an ambush on Sept. 26 along with three Afghan colleagues who were later released. Six kidnappers also died in the rescue attempt.

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Associated Press writers Heidi Vogt and Amir Shah contributed to this report.