NATO Forces Kill 94 Taliban Militants; Homicide Bomber Kills Governor

FOXNews/AP ^ | September 10, 2006

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NATO Forces Kill 94 Taliban Militants; Homicide Bomber Kills Governor

September 10, 2006

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — NATO and Afghan forces killed 94 Taliban fighters in airstrikes and ground attacks in southern Afghanistan, while a homicide bomber on Sunday killed a provincial governor in the east, amid deepening violence across the insurgency-wracked country.

NATO said the 94 militants were killed in Kandahar province's Panjwayi and neighboring Zhari districts late Saturday and early Sunday, pushing the toll from a nine-day counterinsurgency operation there past 420. Six NATO soldiers and 14 British crew of a reconnaissance plane have also died.

Operation Medusa began Sept. 2 in Panjwayi, where hundreds of militants had mobilized just 25 kilometers (15 miles) west of the main southern city of Kandahar city — the former seat of the Taliban government overthrown by U.S. led forces in late 2001 for harboring Al Qaeda leader Usama bin Laden.

NATO said in a statement that the latest insurgent casualties were inflicted in four separate engagements.

Security forces have pounded insurgents in Panjwayi with airstrikes, artillery and mortars in one of the most intense military confrontations since the campaign that toppled the Islamist regime.

(excerpt)

Meanwhile in eastern Afghanistan, a suicide bombing killed three people including the governor of Paktia province outside his office on Sunday, and wounded three, police said.

The attacker, with explosives attached to his body, ran into a car carrying Gov. Abdul Hakim Taniwal, his secretary and a bodyguard, killing all of them as they left the office in the Paktia capital of Gardez, said provincial police chief Abdul Annan Raufi. Three police on duty there were wounded.

Mohammed Hanif, who claims to speak for the Taliban, claimed responsibility in a satellite phone call to an Associated Press reporter in Pakistan.

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"Mohammed Hanif, who claims to speak for the Taliban, claimed responsibility in a satellite phone call to an Associated Press reporter in Pakistan"

Should have given him the Nek treatment

[SampleMan]

Afghanistan isn't exactly the land of milk and honey with scads of excess population. Without a large influx of foreign fighters, killing these people will have an effect. The Soviets holed up and didn't take the fight to the enemy. Eyes in the sky, instant death from above, and hard pressed ground campaigns can make life so hard for the Taliban that recruitment will become impossible. At some point someone has to do the scratching that is required to eek out an existence, and packing an AK-47 across the mountains doesn't create any food.

[Jabba the Nutt]

CNN's been pounding their anti-Republican agenda the last few days. Message: Taliban resurgent, we're losing Afghanistan, Bush is a loser, Democrats offer honorable retreat. The Taliban come out and play every spring and summer and get killed by the hundreds. They control nothing.

[Mac1]

"CNN's been pounding their anti-Republican agenda the last few days"

Not just CNN - also the BBC.

[NormsRevenge]

Graphic with map of Afghanistan locating the region where nearly 100 Taliban were killed(AFP/Graphic)

[nuconvert]

Thanx for the map