Free Republic

Hotshot sniper in one-and-a-half mile double kill Michael Smith A BRITISH Army sniper has set a new sharpshooting distance record by killing two Taliban machinegunners in Afghanistan from more than 1 miles away. Craig Harrison, a member of the Household Cavalry, killed the insurgents with consecutive shots — even though they were 3,000ft beyond the most effective range of his rifle. “The first round hit a machinegunner in the stomach and killed him outright,” said Harrison, a Corporal of Horse. “He went straight down and didn’t move. “The second insurgent grabbed the weapon and turned as my second shot hit...

WASHINGTON, June 29, 2009 – Coalition and Afghan forces detained more than a dozen suspected militants and seized weapons and drugs in recent operations in Afghanistan, military officials said. During two June 27 operations in the Musa Khel district of Khost province, Afghan and coalition forces targeted a key commander in one operation and searched a compound in another. Coalition forces used precision air strikes in a remote area of the district, targeting a key Haqqani commander responsible for planning militant attacks against coalition forces, officials said. Intelligence sources indicated his location in the mountainous district, about 30 miles northwest...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 18, 2008 – As the U.S. military works to improve security along a supply line that passes through Pakistan en route to Afghanistan, the pathway continues to be a viable means of logistics, a Pentagon official said today. Taliban militants reportedly have torched about 300 trucks laden with supplies, including military vehicles, in five attacks last week alone. But roughly 150 truckloads of supplies continue to traverse the route each day, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said today. “While we are still evaluating how to not only improve the security along that line, but [also] other lines that we...