US-led soldier slain in S Afghanistan

Press TV, Sat Jul 16, 2011 6:59AM 

A soldier with the US-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) has lost his life in a roadside bomb attack in southern Afghanistan.

"An ISAF service member died as a result of a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan today," Reuters cited a brief statement released by the military contingent on Saturday.

The alliance, however, did not announce the name or nationality of the victim.

Roadside bombs and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) are by far the most lethal weapon Taliban militants have used against foreign troops, Afghan forces as well as civilians.

The latest death brings to 311 the number of foreign troops killed in war-battered Afghanistan so far this year, icasualties.org reported.

Last year, nonetheless, remains the deadliest year for foreign military casualties with a death toll of 711. The number eclipsed the previous record of 521, set in 2009.

Hundreds of civilians have also been killed in US-led airstrikes and ground operations in various parts of Afghanistan over the past few months, with Afghans becoming increasingly outraged over the seemingly endless number of deadly assaults.

The rising death toll for Afghan civilians as a result of NATO and US military operations has increased tension between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his Western allies.

MP/HRF

US-led soldier killed in Afghan war

Press TV, Sat Jul 16, 2011 5:51AM

A US-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) soldier has been killed in a militant attack in western Afghanistan.

"An ISAF service member died on Friday following an attack in western Afghanistan," Reuters cited a brief statement released by the military contingent on Saturday.

The ISAF, however, has not announced the name or the nationality of the soldier.

At least 310 foreign troops have been killed in war-ravaged Afghanistan so far this year.

The year 2010 was the deadliest year for foreign military casualties with a death toll of 711, eclipsing the 2009 toll of 521.

Hundreds of civilians have also been killed in US-led airstrikes and ground operations in various parts of Afghanistan over the past few months, with Afghans becoming increasingly outraged over the seemingly endless number of deadly assaults.

The growing death toll of the Afghan civilians as a result of NATO and US military operations in the country has fueled tensions between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his Western allies.

MP/HJL/HRF

French soldier killed in Afghan war

Press TV, Thu Jul 14, 2011 1:3PM

 A French soldier has been killed in Afghanistan just one day after seven US-led foreign forces -- including five more French soldiers -- were killed.

President Nicolas Sarkozy's office has confirmed that a French Navy commando died in a militant attack in northeast of Kabul on Thursday morning.

The latest death brings the NATO death toll to well over 307 so far this year. France has lost at least 70 of its soldiers during the Afghan war.

According to official figures, more than 2,588 US-led soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since the US-led invasion of the country in 2001.

Meanwhile, Sarkozy has held an emergency security meeting to discuss the safety of French combat troops leading up to their scheduled withdrawal from Afghanistan by 2014.

He reiterated that in agreement with NATO allies, responsibility for security in Afghanistan would be progressively passed on to Afghan forces.

Earlier in July, Sarkozy announced that France plans withdraw 1,000 of its 4,000 combat forces from Afghanistan by the end of 2012.

The security situation remains fragile in Afghanistan despite the presence of about 150,000 US-led foreign forces.

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 Afghan war.

JR/AKM

US-led attack kills six in Afghanistan

Press TV, Thu Jul 14, 2011 7:37AM

A US-led airstrike has killed at least six civilians in Afghanistan's southeastern Khost province, triggering outrage among local Afghan residents.

The US-led forces targeted three residential buildings in the city of Khost in southeastern Khost province during a night operation late Wednesday, killing six civilians, including a woman and a government employee, a Press TV correspondent reported on Thursday.

To protest the US-led war on the country, some residents of Khost city reportedly plan to carry some of the dead bodies to the Khost governor's office.

US-led foreign forces have not yet issued any official statement on the killings.

The fresh violence against Afghan civilians by US-led forces follows a Tuesday air offensive in northeastern Kunar province , which killed four civilians and wounded another.

In another attack on Tuesday, US-led warplanes targeted two houses overnight in residential areas in the Azra district of Afghanistan's Logar province, leaving at least 16 civilians dead, including women and children.

No official statistics have ever been kept on the high number civilian casualties in Afghanistan as the result of US-led military operations and aerial strikes as well as terror attacks by pro-Taliban militant forces. However, according to a UPI report, estimates developed by human rights groups put the number of civilians killed since 2001 merely by the US-led ISAF forces as high as 34,000.

Moreover, tens of thousands of other Afghan civilians have reportedly lost their lives due to forced displacement, starvation, lack of medical treatment, crime and lawlessness caused by the US-led war.

The 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan came about with the well-publicized objective of overthrowing the Taliban regime, rooting out the pro-Taliban militancy and bringing peace and stability to the troubled country. Ten years on, however, Afghanistan remains highly unstable with a persisting growth of terrorism, illicit drug production and narcotics trade.

AO/MB

Karzai orders probe into NATO killings

Press TV, Thu Jul 14, 2011 11:17PM

Afghan people protest as they carry the bodies of civilians who were killed in an overnight raid, Thursday July 14, 2011. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has called on Khost provincial officials to conduct an investigation over the deaths of six civilians killed by a US-led airstrike.

In a statement from his office on Thursday, Karzai ordered a "broad based investigation into civilian casualties in coalition operations in Khost province."

"The president instructed the Khost governor Abdul Jabar Naeemi and other security officials to closely investigate the circumstances around the incident and submit their report to the president at the earliest possible," the statement said.

At least six civilians, including an 11-year-old girl, were killed during a night operation in southeastern Khost province late Wednesday.

"A teacher, a student, an 11-year-old girl and three other ordinary people were killed in the operation. They were civilians, innocent people," Khost provincial spokesman Mubarez Zadar said.

The United Nations said in a report on Thursday that civilian casualties in Afghanistan has increased by 15 percent in the first half of 2011, compared to the same period a year earlier.

Close to 1,500 civilians are documented to have been killed during the period, according to the report.

Figures show that the number of civilians injured also rose by 7 percent.

AGB/MGH

Bomb rocks Karzai brother's ceremony

Press TV, Thu Jul 14, 2011 8:38AM

A bomb has ripped through a mosque in the southern city of Kandahar, where a memorial ceremony for the assassinated brother of Afghanistan's president was underway.

At least four people, including the head cleric of Kandahar's Ulema Council, Maulvi Hekmatullah, were killed and 13 others were injured after a bomber blew himself up in the mosque where the memorial ceremony of Ahmad Wali Karzai was being held, a Press TV correspondent reported Thursday.

The police have cordoned off the area, searching for evidence and possibly more casualties.

Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Siddiq Siddiqi has also confirmed the attack, saying the assault has left some casualties.

AO/MB