- Reaction score
- 63
- Points
- 530
The casualties are most likely American.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/03/ap_afghanistan_030308/
3 soldiers hurt in Afghan suicide bombing
By Rahim Faeiz - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Mar 4, 2008 10:04:15 EST
KABUL, Afghanistan — A suicide car bomber attacked a government center protected by NATO and Afghan troops in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, collapsing a guard post with soldiers inside, officials said. Three NATO soldiers were wounded in the attack, a U.S. military official said.
The attacker in the eastern Khost province rammed the explosives-laden car into the gates of the government district center in Yaqoubi district, which is guarded jointly by American and Afghan troops, said Khost Gov. Arsallah Jamal.
A district chief Lutfullah Babarkeil originally called the building an American base. Jamal said the compound houses the Afghan government district center and an American unit of soldiers known as a provincial reconstruction team.
Army Lt. Col. Dave Accetta, a spokesman for NATO troops in eastern Afghanistan, said three NATO soldiers were wounded as a result of the explosion and were evacuated for medical care to the main U.S. military base at Bagram airfield. He could not confirm whether the attack was a suicide bombing.
Accetta would not disclose the soldiers’ nationalities because of strict rules set by NATO. However, the majority of international forces in Khost province are American.
Two Afghan policemen were also wounded in the attack, Babakarheil said.
Clashes and raids in the south, meanwhile left more than 20 Taliban fighters killed and wounded, officials said.
On Sunday, U.S.-led coalition troops targeted a Taliban commander in Garmser district of Helmand province, the coalition said.
“Several insurgents were killed when they fired on coalition forces,” who detained four men with suspected links to the militants, the coalition said in a statement.
Also Sunday, Afghan and foreign troops clashed with militants in Helmand’s Sangin district, resulting in 20 casualties, according to a Defense Ministry statement that did not provide a breakdown of the number of dead and wounded militants.
Afghanistan’s intelligence chief, meanwhile, rejected an assessment by his U.S. counterpart that 10 percent of the country is under Taliban control, calling the figures “completely baseless.”
Michael McConnell, the U.S. National Intelligence Director, told a Senate committee last week in Washington that Afghanistan’s central government controls just 30 percent of the country, the Taliban controls about 10 percent, and local tribes control the rest.
Afghan and Western officials have disputed the figures.
“All the percentages given are completely baseless for us,” Afghan intelligence chief Amrullah Saleh told a news conference Monday in Kabul.
Saleh said only eight of Afghanistan’s 364 districts — comprising 2 percent of the Afghan population or 5 percent of its territory — are not government controlled.
Saleh also took issue with McConnell’s assertion that the 60 percent of the country controlled by tribal leaders is not under direct government control.
“We are a very distinct country, in our culture, in our way of governance, in our history,” Saleh said. “While in America, an administration fully backed by tribal chiefs or dominated by tribal chiefs may be seen as liability ... here we see it as a very strong asset.”
Last year was the deadliest in Afghanistan since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion. More than 6,500 people — mostly militants — were killed in violence linked to the insurgency, according to an Associated Press count.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/03/ap_afghanistan_030308/
3 soldiers hurt in Afghan suicide bombing
By Rahim Faeiz - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Mar 4, 2008 10:04:15 EST
KABUL, Afghanistan — A suicide car bomber attacked a government center protected by NATO and Afghan troops in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, collapsing a guard post with soldiers inside, officials said. Three NATO soldiers were wounded in the attack, a U.S. military official said.
The attacker in the eastern Khost province rammed the explosives-laden car into the gates of the government district center in Yaqoubi district, which is guarded jointly by American and Afghan troops, said Khost Gov. Arsallah Jamal.
A district chief Lutfullah Babarkeil originally called the building an American base. Jamal said the compound houses the Afghan government district center and an American unit of soldiers known as a provincial reconstruction team.
Army Lt. Col. Dave Accetta, a spokesman for NATO troops in eastern Afghanistan, said three NATO soldiers were wounded as a result of the explosion and were evacuated for medical care to the main U.S. military base at Bagram airfield. He could not confirm whether the attack was a suicide bombing.
Accetta would not disclose the soldiers’ nationalities because of strict rules set by NATO. However, the majority of international forces in Khost province are American.
Two Afghan policemen were also wounded in the attack, Babakarheil said.
Clashes and raids in the south, meanwhile left more than 20 Taliban fighters killed and wounded, officials said.
On Sunday, U.S.-led coalition troops targeted a Taliban commander in Garmser district of Helmand province, the coalition said.
“Several insurgents were killed when they fired on coalition forces,” who detained four men with suspected links to the militants, the coalition said in a statement.
Also Sunday, Afghan and foreign troops clashed with militants in Helmand’s Sangin district, resulting in 20 casualties, according to a Defense Ministry statement that did not provide a breakdown of the number of dead and wounded militants.
Afghanistan’s intelligence chief, meanwhile, rejected an assessment by his U.S. counterpart that 10 percent of the country is under Taliban control, calling the figures “completely baseless.”
Michael McConnell, the U.S. National Intelligence Director, told a Senate committee last week in Washington that Afghanistan’s central government controls just 30 percent of the country, the Taliban controls about 10 percent, and local tribes control the rest.
Afghan and Western officials have disputed the figures.
“All the percentages given are completely baseless for us,” Afghan intelligence chief Amrullah Saleh told a news conference Monday in Kabul.
Saleh said only eight of Afghanistan’s 364 districts — comprising 2 percent of the Afghan population or 5 percent of its territory — are not government controlled.
Saleh also took issue with McConnell’s assertion that the 60 percent of the country controlled by tribal leaders is not under direct government control.
“We are a very distinct country, in our culture, in our way of governance, in our history,” Saleh said. “While in America, an administration fully backed by tribal chiefs or dominated by tribal chiefs may be seen as liability ... here we see it as a very strong asset.”
Last year was the deadliest in Afghanistan since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion. More than 6,500 people — mostly militants — were killed in violence linked to the insurgency, according to an Associated Press count.
