Scores of Afghanis and NATO Soldiers Killed in Endless Afghanistan War Attacks, January 10, 2011

Scores of Afghanis and NATO Soldiers Killed in Endless Afghanistan War Attacks

January 10, 2011

15 Taliban killed in NATO-Afghan attack

Press TV, Mon Jan 10, 2011 11:37AM

A senior Taliban leader and 14 other (Taliban fighters, Press TV describes them as militants) have been killed in an Afghan-NATO operation targeting the militants in north Afghanistan.

The coalition said in a statement on Monday that its forces, along with their Afghan counterparts, were searching for the Taliban leader identified as Mawlawi Zahir who was Taliban shadow governor for Khanabad district in Kunduz province, reported the Associated Press.

He is linked to Taliban leaders in Pakistan and is involved in aiding the insurgents with roadside bombs and weapons, added NATO.

The coalition said the troops attempted to draw the occupants out of the compound where the man was believed to be.

When that failed, they entered the compound, a gunbattle ensued, and 14 militants were killed. Two other militants were also captured in the operation.

This comes as fresh clashes between US-led foreign forces and Taliban militants left at least five civilians dead in southern Afghanistan on Saturday.

Three other civilians were also injured in the incident, which took place in Helmand's Nad Ali district.

"Three civilians, including a child, were killed during a clash between coalition forces and militants in Helmand," read a statement released by the provincial governor's office.

The statement did not clarify which side is responsible for the casualties.

It added that two other civilians lost their lives and three others sustained injuries after militants fired a rocket “into a civilian house” in the same district.

NN/RZS/HRF

3 Afghan policemen killed in car bomb

Press TV, Mon Jan 10, 2011 8:18AM

Spin Boldak was the site of another attack, in which 17 people including a police commander were killed. At least three Afghan border police guards have been killed in a car bombing in the Spin Boldak district of troubled Kandahar province in southern Afghanistan, near the border with Pakistan.

The explosion took place when the bomber in a car with explosives targeted a police vehicle that was on patrol in the area early Monday morning, General Abdul Raziq, Chief of Kandahar's Border Police, told a Press TV correspondent.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi claimed responsibility for the attack and added that two police cars were destroyed in the assault.

According to the Taliban spokesman, at least 22 police guards were killed in the blasts.

The Monday attack was the second suicide bombing in four days against Afghan border police in the area.

On Friday, an explosion targeting a senior police officer, killed 17 people and wounded more than 23 others.

In that incident, the suicide attacker detonated himself in a public bath where the border police commander was bathing.

Kandahar is a Taliban stronghold and the group has previously carried out attacks in the province.

On December 11, a powerful car bomb exploded outside Kandahar's police headquarters, wounding four Afghan policemen and two children.

RZS/HRF

5 civilians killed in Afghanistan clashes

Press TV, Sun Jan 9, 2011 11:30AM

Fresh clashes between US-led foreign forces and Taliban militants have left at least five civilians, including a child, dead in southern Afghanistan.

Three other civilians were also injured during the incident that took place in Helmand's Nad Ali district on Saturday.

"Three civilians including a child were killed during a clash between coalition forces and militants in Helmand," a statement released by the provincial governor's office said on Sunday, DPA reported.

The statement did not clarify which side is responsible for the casualties.

It added that two other civilians lost their lives and three others sustained injuries after militants fired a rocket “into a civilian house” in the same district on the same day.

Afghanistan's Interior Ministry said a total of 25 civilians lost their lives in fighting in various parts of the war-torn country last week.

Afghan civilian casualties were at record levels in 2010. The number of civilians killed or wounded in the Afghan war increased by 20 percent during the first 10 months of 2010, compared with the same period last year.

The Afghan Interior Ministry added that 2010 has been the deadliest year for civilians since the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.

The ministry's spokesman said more than 2,000 civilians were killed in violence across war-wrecked Afghanistan last year.

DB/HRF

Afghan war kills another US-led soldier

Press TV, Sun Jan 9, 2011 6:50AM

A roadside bomb has claimed the life of another US-led soldier in southern Afghanistan bringing the number of foreign soldiers killed in the war-ravaged country to 11 so far this year.

NATO said in a statement that the service member died on Sunday.

It did not release the casualty's nationality nor did it provide any further details.

Last year was the deadliest for international troops in the nearly decade-long war, with more than 700 killed.

Despite the presence of some 150,000 foreign forces, militant attacks are picking up in the war-torn country.

The rising foreign casualties have sparked anger among the public in the countries allied with the United States in Afghanistan.

The invasion of Afghanistan took place with the official objective of curbing militancy and bringing peace and stability to the country. Nine years on, however, Afghanistan remains unstable and civilians continue to pay the price.

The Pentagon admitted in a recent report that the United States has failed to establish security in Afghanistan.

MSH/HRF

Three US-led troops killed in Afghan war

Press TV, Fri Jan 7, 2011 4:24PM

US-led troops in Afghanistan NATO says three US-led troops have been killed in two separate bomb attacks in Afghanistan, amid a surge in militant attacks against foreign forces in the country.

The Western military alliance said two soldiers were killed in the east, while the other was slain in the south. NATO has withheld all other details about the incidents.

Only one week into 2011, at least nine US-led foreign troops have been killed in Afghanistan.

The US-led alliance has warned that violence levels in Afghanistan are set to increase in 2011. In 2010, at least 711 US-led troops were killed in Afghanistan, making it the highest annual death toll since the war began in 2001.

According to official figures, more than 2,290 US-led soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since the invasion of the country nine years ago.

Figures released by Afghanistan's Baakhtar News Agency, however, put the foreign troop death toll at nearly 4,500.

NATO has admitted to the rising power of militants in Afghanistan despite the growing presence of US-led forces in the country, which currently stands at 150,000.

Despite an earlier pledge by US President Barack Obama for a major drawdown of troops from the war-ravaged country by July 2011, American officials recently announced that US soldiers would remain in Afghanistan for at least another four years.

The rising death toll among US-led foreign forces has prompted growing opposition to the Afghan war in countries that have contributed troops to the mission.

JR/HGH/MMN

NATO kills more than 10 insurgents in Afghanistan

Monday, January 10, 12:44 am ET

KABUL, Afghanistan, AFP –

NATO says it has killed more than 10 (Taliban fighters described by AFP as insurgents) and captured two others in an operation targeting a Taliban leader in north Afghanistan.

The coalition said in a statement Monday that its forces, along with their Afghan counterparts, were searching for a Taliban leader who was the district leader of Khanabad in Kunduz province. The coalition says he is linked to Taliban leaders in Pakistan and is involved in aiding the insurgents with roadside bombs and weapons.

NATO said troops attempted to draw the occupants out of the compound where the man was believed to be. When that failed, they entered the compound, a gunbattle ensured, and several insurgents were killed.

Kunduz police chief Abdul Rahman Sayedhkaili said 13 people were killed.

Three Afghan police killed by Taliban car bomb

by Nasrat Shoaib Nasrat Shoaib –

Monday, January 10, 2011

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) –

Three policemen were killed Monday in a car bombing claimed by the Taliban in southern Afghanistan's troubled Kandahar province, near the border with Pakistan, police said.

The attack comes three days after a Taliban suicide bomber killed a police commander and 16 others at a public bath in the same district of Spin Boldak. That was the deadliest attack in Afghanistan since October.

"A car bomber approached the national police patrol cars and smashed his car into the police vehicles, killing three policemen and destroying the vehicle," General Abdul Raziq, chief of Kandahar's border police, told AFP.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, which took place on a remote highway between Spin Boldak and Takhapul.

Witnesses said police removed the bodies and cleaned the road shortly after the attack, which happened at around 10:00 am (0530 GMT).

The attacks Monday and last week highlight the tense security situation in parts of Kandahar -- the Taliban's spiritual home -- despite its being the focus of an international military strategy to reverse their momentum.

Spin Boldak is a short distance from the border with Pakistan, where US officials say the Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked insurgents use bases to plot attacks in Afghanistan and the West.

There are currently some 140,000 international troops in Afghanistan fighting an insurgency spearheaded by the Taliban, who were ousted from power in a US-led invasion in 2001.

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates last week ordered an extra 1,400 US Marines to the south in a bid to pre-empt the Taliban's traditional spring offensive, which is expected in April or May.

That came on top of an extra 30,000 troops for Afghanistan ordered by President Barack Obama in late 2009 as part of a surge strategy to try to arrest the Taliban's increasing momentum.

In a review of the strategy published last month, Obama said the surge was working, but stressed that gains were fragile.

Limited international troop withdrawals are due to begin in July before responsibility for security is handed to Afghan security forces in 2014.

Afghanistan's interior ministry says that 1,292 policemen were killed battling the Taliban and other insurgents last year.

Three people including one policeman were killed in a bombing in Kandahar city at the end of last month which apparently targeted police queuing to receive their salaries.

Elsewhere in Afghanistan Monday, international forces said they were investigating a possible friendly fire incident in the central Day Kundi province in which three Afghan policemen were killed.

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