Posted on 10/28/2003 5:30:05 AM PST by Coop
Edited on 04/29/2004 2:03:19 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
KABUL, Afghanistan -- At least 22 fighters from the ousted Taliban regime and al Qaeda network were killed in an aerial assault by U.S.-led forces in southeastern Paktika province, according to Reuters..
Air support was called in on Tuesday after a group of Taliban and al Qaeda fugitives fired rockets and heavy machine-guns on a base used by U.S.-led troops and their Afghan allies in Shkin, near the Pakistan border, on Saturday, said Paktika province govenor Mohammad Ali Jalali.
(Excerpt) Read more at edition.cnn.com ...
Not surprisingly, the group previously reported as all Al Qaeda now includes Taliban among them. The good news is they've added two to the KIA list.
http://www.hipakistan.com/en/detail.php?newsId=en43190&F_catID=&f_type=source
ISLAMABAD: Intelligence sources Monday said recent raids had netted seven suspected members of the al Qaeda terrorist network, including an Egyptian-born Canadian said to be an important member of the group. The sources said four were arrested in Faislabad, Two were Yemenis and one was Pakistani. The fourth was identified as Ahmed Saad Khadar, also known as Abu Abdul Rehman, an Egyptian-born Canadian. The sources said he played a key role in the network but gave no further details. They said Khadar was among a group of 22 al Qaeda members who came to Faislabad after the Pakistan Army began operations in the border area. They said Khadar had been scheduled to undergo plastic surgery. The Pakistani man arrested was identified as Mohammad Jawaid, 32. Intelligence sources said a search of his house uncovered some compact discs, maps, a lap top computer, hand grenades and other weapons. Authorities arrested three Yemenis suspected of being al Qaeda operatives in Karachi, the sources said. They identified the three as Youswaf bin Zavi, Jawad al Bashir, and a man whose name was given only as Shaban. They said satellite phones, pistols, and foreign currency were recovered.
WOW...talk about stray bullets...
Foxnews just had an alert where it was confirmed that the two were CIA personnel pursuing top terrorists leadership targets!
Mullah Omar?
With ten dead, it sounds as if these two brave souls accomplished their mission and got their target(s). Small condolences for the families, of course.
Hmmmmmmmmmmm!
But then here's another article:
18 rebels killed in Afghan
By BURT HERMAN - Associated Press
18 rebels killed in Afghan
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- U.S.-led coalition troops and Afghan militia killed 18 rebel fighters during a six-hour firefight in eastern Afghanistan near the Pakistan border, calling in airstrikes to help repel the attackers, the U.S. military said Tuesday.
Six Afghan militiamen were wounded in the fighting that began Saturday morning, the coalition said in a statement. There were no coalition casualties.
U.S.-backed Afghan militia members were patrolling 27 miles south of a base in Shkin, a town in Paktika province, when they ran into as many as 25 anti-coalition fighters at 7:45 a.m., the military said. The coalition said a rapid reaction force from its Shkin base, 135 miles south of Kabul, was called in to reinforce the Afghan soldiers.
During an exchange of small-arms fire between the ground forces, A-10 Thunderbolt airplanes and Apache helicopters were called in for air strikes. One vehicle was destroyed and the surviving rebels retreated, the military said. It said "approximately 18 enemy personnel" were killed.
The clash was reported Monday by Afghan officials, but they gave conflicting accounts. Tuesday's statement was the first by the coalition on the incident.
Mohammed Ali Jalali, governor of Paktika province, said Tuesday that a separate battle Saturday in the province's Gomal district, about two miles from the Pakistan border, left 10 rebels dead -- including four Arabs.
The coalition statement didn't specify if the attackers Saturday were former Taliban or al-Qaida terrorists. Remnants of those forces -- ousted from power here in late 2001 by the U.S.-led coalition -- have mounted attacks in Afghanistan's border regions with Pakistan.
The remote regions on Afghanistan's frontier have poor communication links and transportation, a possible reason for the confused reports about the battles.
Last week, the U.N. Undersecretary-General for Peacekeeping told the U.N. Security Council that deteriorating security in Afghanistan was a significant obstacle to reconstruction. He claimed that the Taliban have established "de-facto control" in certain border areas, including in Paktika province, site of Saturday's fighting.
The Afghan government strongly rejected the U.N. official's claims that the Taliban have taken control of border regions, and said threats to stability in the country shouldn't be exaggerated.
is there really a difference anymore?
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