Posted on 08/31/2003 6:49:55 AM PDT by risk
The Associated Press
QALAT, Afghanistan
Aug. 31 —
U.S. fighter jets and helicopters pounded suspected Taliban positions Sunday in a fresh assault in the rugged mountain peaks of southern Afghanistan, an Afghan official said.
Hundreds of reinforcements had joined the fighting on both sides in the Dai Chupan district of Zabul province, said Khalil Hotak, the province's intelligence chief.
A first round of U.S. airstrikes went on for three hours overnight and ended shortly before dawn, Hotak said. U.S. planes flew several more bombing sorties late Sunday morning, Gen. Haji Saifullah Khan said from the scene of the fighting.
For nearly a week now, the mountainous region about 42 miles north of Qalat, the provincial capital, has been the scene of intense battles between suspected Taliban rebels, Afghan soldiers and their U.S. allies.
Dozens of Taliban fighters are reported to have been killed and several others arrested so far, although it has been impossible to get independent confirmation of casualty figures.
"We are tightening the siege against them step by step. We will either capture them alive or take the force out of them," Hotak said.
Hospital officials in Qalat told The Associated Press on Sunday that the wounded were taken immediately to a U.S. base at the airport in the southern city of Kandahar.
No ground battles were reported on Sunday.
Four helicopter gunships and three U.S. jets targeted suspected Taliban hideouts in the Chinaran, Ragh and Kabai areas of Dai Chupan, Hotak told AP at an operations center in Qalat.
Afghan soldiers swept through the area following the bombing and claimed to have seen 14 newly killed Taliban fighters, according to Hotak. There were no reports of casualties among government forces.
U.S. military spokesman Col. Rodney Davis said Saturday that two American soldiers had been wounded in the fighting this week. Another American soldier died in a fall during a nighttime combat operation on Friday.
Khan, the Afghan commander, said Sunday that intelligence indicated more than 250 Taliban reinforcements had arrived from the neighboring district of Mizan.
"We have an informer among these people (Taliban)," Khan told AP. He spoke by satellite telephone from Larzab, on the front line of the battle.
He said fighting had died down by Sunday afternoon following the last U.S. airstrikes.
"There is no exchange of fire. We are quietly advancing toward where we have laid siege to the Taliban," Khan said.
About 500 Afghan soldiers had been earlier reported involved in the battles with the Taliban. Hotak said reinforcements have been sent and about 800 Afghan soldiers were in the region now.
On Sunday, Hotak said hundreds of American troops were in Dai Chupan, but the U.S. military did not confirm that claim. He earlier said there were 60 to 70 U.S. soldiers.
In other fighting Sunday, three coalition soldiers were injured when they came under fire in eastern Afghanistan, a U.S. military spokesman said at Bagram Air Base. The names and nationalities of the coalition soldiers were not revealed.
Col. Rodney Davis said a quick reaction force was deployed from the nearby Shkihn base, in eastern Paktika province, and two A-10 Thunderbolt II jets gave air support but did not drop any ordnance.
Four insurgents were killed in the clash, which lasted about 90 minutes, he said.
The U.S.-led coalition has 11,500 soldiers in Afghanistan most of them Americans to hunt down Taliban and al-Qaida fighters, mainly in the south and east of the country.
Fighters from the Taliban militia, which was ousted by a U.S.-led coalition in late 2001, appear to be regrouping. Their recent attacks have been bolder and better coordinated.
Also Sunday, attackers in a car hurled a hand grenade at the Indian consulate in the eastern city of Jalalabad, damaging a wall and shattering windows but causing no injuries. Four Afghan men were detained and were being questioned.
| Cpl. Arion, from the Canadian 3RCR Battle Group, looks through binoculars during patrolling in Kabul Afghanistan Saturday, August.30, 2003. The Canadian troops are part of the NATO-led International Security Force patrolling around the Afghan capital. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko) |
Good!
Sounds like it may have been a trap or maybe just the Taliban learning all over that massing troops with American air power nearby is not smart....
This also sounds like good training for Afghan national troops.
Oh, let's hope they don't learn *that*... We want to *encourage* them to mass troops. (Hopefully CIA has figured out how to accomplish that...).
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