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Excerpt - SYDNEY (AFP) — Australian soldiers have captured a key Taliban commander in southern Afghanistan, the military said Sunday. The Defence Department said that elite Australian troops in Uruzgan had last week taken in Mullah Bari Ghul -- a man they believe is a central figure in extremist attacks in the restive province. ~ snip ~

Deh Rawod - US and Afghan forces say they have killed dozens of insurgents in the southern province of Uruzgan. The US army says the soldiers were ambushed by a large group of Taliban fighters, who were then driven off by air strikes. The action took place in the Deh Rawod district, where many of the Dutch ISAF troops are stationed.

Excerpt - KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Taliban militants overran a district in southern Afghanistan and are pushing for control of another key area, sparking fierce clashes with NATO and Afghan forces that have left more than 100 people dead over three days, officials said Tuesday. Hundreds of Taliban fighters launched raids on police posts near the strategic town of Chora in Uruzgan province Saturday, forcing NATO, backed by fighter jets, to respond. Fighting was continuing Tuesday, and some officials reported there have been dozens of civilian casualties. Also late Monday, Taliban occupied Miya Nishin district in neighboring Kandahar province, said provincial...

KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghan and coalition forces killed about 65 militants in two gunbattles in southern Afghanistan, the military said Saturday. On Friday, troops came under fire from about 40 insurgents near the village of Mirabad northeast of the capital in southern Uruzgan province, the military said in a statement. Most of the militants, who were firing from hidden positions in an orchard, ridgeline and compound near Mirabad, were believed killed, the coalition said. No coalition or civilian injuries were reported. In a separate assault, Afghan and coalition forces battled a large group of militants in the Zharie district of...

A small request to members -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Australian government has cut orders for another 200 Australian soldiers to head to Afghanistan, as part of ongoing operations. As we have always done, as we always will, we stand with the United States and her allies. This year, another 200 of our sons and daughters will saddle up for overseas service, walking in harms way..and in doing so, continue a proud tradition. Europe, New Guinea, Indonesia, East Timor,the Gulf,Tobruk, El Alamein, Iraq, Afghanistan....names of distant places where the Aussie Digger has served with distinction, and honour,and courage. Please remember them in your...

AUSTRALIA would send about 200 extra troops to Afghanistan to help reconstruction efforts, Prime Minister John Howard said today. Mr Howard said the troops would be part of a Dutch-led provincial reconstruction team (PRT). The latest deployment will take the total number of Australian troops in Afghanistan to about 500. "Australia has decided to send an Australian Defence Force reconstruction to Afghanistan," Mr Howard said. "It will begin deploying, we think, late in July." Mr Howard said the Australians would be deployed over two years. Last month, the Government decided to send an extra 110 troops and two helicopters to...

AUSTRALIAN soldiers could be deployed to an area of Afghanistan that has been hit by an increase in suicide bombings, defence force chiefs have said. Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston gave more details yesterday to a Senate estimates hearing on proposals to send another 200 Australian soldiers to Afghanistan as part of NATO efforts to stabilise the country. He said the Diggers were likely to join a 900-strong Dutch Provincial Reconstruction Team in Oruzgan province of south-central Afghanistan. The Australian contribution was likely to include a mix of army engineers as well as combat troops geared to protect the unit....

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) - Militants loyal to Afghanistan's ousted Taliban regime killed seven Afghan police and beheaded two civilians in the country's insurgency-hit south, a provincial governor said. The policemen were killed in an ambush Wednesday on a three-vehicle convoy on a highway between Uruzgan province and Kandahar, a former Taliban hotbed, Uruzgan governor Jan Mohammad told AFP on Thursday. One of the vehicles escaped the ambush but two were destroyed. "Seven police were killed on the spot and two are missing. The two vehicles were destroyed as well," Mohammad said.

Friday November 2 12:09 AM ET Report: Taliban Arrest Pro-King Afghans, Plan Execution ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (Reuters) - Afghanistan's ruling Taliban have arrested 25 followers of tribal leader Hamid Karzai, a supporter of ex-King Zahir Shah, and plan to execute some on Friday, Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) reported. ``It is expected that some of the important people of those arrested may be hanged later today in Kandahar though it is possible that they may be hanged in Uruzgan,'' AIP quoted a Taliban source as saying. The followers were arrested by the Taliban Thursday during a chase to try to hunt ...

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Feb 14 (Reuters) - A commander of Taliban guerrillas in the southern Afghan province of Uruzgan was captured last week while trying to hide in a well and handed over to U.S. forces, the provincial governor said on Monday. Mullah Mohammad Naeem was captured by Afghan forces in the village of Sia Sang in Uruzgan's Deh Rawud district on Friday, Jan Mohammad Khan told Reuters. "The raid was conducted on a house in Deh Rawud," he said. "The Taliban commander was hiding in a well." Khan said Naeem was a senior Taliban commander in the province and...

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Afghan security forces killed a senior Taliban commander and two of his comrades in southern Afghanistan, an official said Sunday. Maulvi Abdul Ghaffar, a former inmate at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, died in a gunbattle Saturday night in Pishi village in the southern province of Uruzgan, said Jan Mohammed Khan, governor of Uruzgan. Khan said authorities had received intelligence that Ghaffar was hiding in the village and was planning an attack against the government. Security forces launched a raid after surrounding a house, and three men, including Ghaffar, were killed in gunfire. None of...

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) --U.S. warplanes and ground forces killed five suspected Taliban fighters at a compound in central Afghanistan, the U.S. military said Sunday. The U.S. attack occurred Friday in Uruzgan province, an isolated mountain area with a heavy presence of Taliban fighters. "We were going into their stronghold, the heart of the Taliban, disrupting them," U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty said in Kabul, the capital. A Taliban attack in the area Thursday killed two U.S. soldiers and one Afghan army soldier. On Friday, U.S. and Afghan forces returned to the area and took fire from a...

<p>KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — American and Afghan troops raided a compound in southern Afghanistan, sparking a firefight in which one suspect was injured, the U.S. military said Monday. The raid took place Sunday morning near Deh Rawood, spokesman Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty told The Associated Press. The town in Uruzgan province has been a focus of activity for suspected Taliban militants.</p>

BAGRAM, Afghanistan, Jul 12, 2002 (AP WorldStream via COMTEX) -- A U.S. special forces compound came under grenade and small arms fire near the village where a U.S. airstrike killed civilians at a wedding party celebration, U.S. officials said Friday. There were no casualties in the attack, which occurred late Thursday near Tarin Kot, capital of Uruzgan province, U.S. military spokesman Col. Roger King said. Afghan soldiers working alongside special forces returned fire after the brief attack, King added. Hostility toward U.S. military operations have increased in southern and central Afghanistan since the July 1 airstrike in which an...