Posted on 07/02/2005 5:36:08 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
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US planes bomb 'Taleban' compound
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A senior Afghan official told the BBC 25 people had been killed in two air raids on a house in Chechal village. US military spokesman Lt Col Jerry O'Hara told the AP news agency: "We conducted an air strike on a target we deemed we had to hit immediately." He said the target was an "enemy compound" in Kunar province. Lt Col O'Hara said the attack was carried out with precision-guided weapons on a target that was "intelligence driven". He gave no further details. Wave of violence A high-ranking Afghan security official in the province, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the BBC that there had been two separate bombing runs on Chechal village. Villagers who went to help those killed and injured in the first raid were hit by the second strike, he said. The official said that security forces had been sent to the area to find out who had been in the houses that were hit. The bombing raids took place amid rising concern over the whereabouts of a team of US special forces on a reconnaissance mission who have been missing in the area since Tuesday.
A helicopter which was sent to pick them up was shot down on Tuesday, killing 16 servicemen on board. US forces hunting the missing ground team say they are using all available means, including unmanned surveillance aircraft and numerous ground troops. But their efforts have been severely hampered by bad weather. Torrential downpours hit much of the region late on Friday, making the hard mountain terrain in Kunar province even tougher going for search teams on the ground. Elsewhere, 18 Taleban fighters were killed in recent fighting in central Uruzgan province, said governor Jan Mohammad Khan. The killings were the latest in a wave of violence in Afghanistan ahead of September parliamentary elections. More than 450 people, most of them suspected militants, are estimated to have lost their lives in bloodshed in the south and east in the last three months. |
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Must be quite a house to have 25 people in it. Let me guess - another wedding party?
WOW...Next please, no waiting!
Methinks we might be closing in on a big prize.
Or baby food formulating social?
Lt Col O'Hara said the attack was carried out with precision-guided weapons on a target that was "intelligence driven".
BBC! Sheesh.
Isn't NATO taking over Afghanistan security?
And nice set of scare quotes around "Taleban." As in, they're trying to imply that maybe it wasn't a Taliban compound.
}:-)4
Koodos to the US. troops . Happy birthday USA !!!
Related to our missing guys?
Yep.
I'm rather ignorant on the military stuff...but how do we know our people weren't in the bombed house? or in an area nearby in danger of friendly fire? Or is that just the risk they take?
Afterall, we've had some people missing for a few days...
I suspect there were warplanes flying around the area, ready to strike at any moment.
Let's hope that any of our captured troops, (if in fact any are captured) weren't in that house
Actually, with this medeival enemy, if a rescue mission isn't possible, the merciful thing to do is destroy it.
Hmm, doesn't this sound familiar to those who have been car-bombed elsewhere? "Bout time we used their tactics back on 'em.
Why do you assume that the fact that they are missing is a bad thing? Maybe they are supposed to be "missing".
They didn't say MIA,but I thought they meant--captured.
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