Foreign Correspondence

[Amaunet]

Over 80 dead in fierce fighting in Afghanistan

see also:

Al Qaeda regrouping in Afghanistan

Rahim Wardak told The Associated Press he received intelligence that Osama bin Laden's terror group is regrouping and intends to bring Iraq-style bloodshed to Afghanistan.

He also warned that the country could be in for several months of intense violence ahead of key legislative elections.
http://us.rediff.com/news/2005/jun/17afghan.htm

Spain mulls more troops in Afghanistan to guard elections
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-06/22/content_3118776.htm

Britain and the Netherlands are considering sending more troops to Afghanistan
http://www.theepochtimes.com/news/5-6-22/29742.html

-Am

Over 80 dead in fierce fighting in Afghanistan

Thursday, June 23, 2005

* Five policemen and seven Afghan soldiers killed, five US troops wounded
* Two American CH-47 helicopters damaged during eleven hours of fighting

KABUL: American warplanes pounded a suspected Taliban safe haven in the mountainsides of southern Afghanistan in an assault that left up to 76 insurgents, five policemen and seven Afghan soldiers dead and five US soldiers wounded, officials said.

Two American CH-47 helicopters were damaged during 11 hours of fighting on Tuesday at a rebel “safe haven,” a US military statement said. One made an emergency landing before it was repaired, while the other managed to fly back to a nearby coalition base.

US military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jerry O’Hara said about 40 rebels had been killed, but General Salim Khan, commander of about 400 Afghan policemen who also took part in the fighting, said his men had recovered the bodies of 60 suspected insurgents. Some 30 militants were captured, including eight who were wounded, he said. Khan said that in addition to the five slain Afghan police officers, three were also injured in the gun battle on the border between the southern provinces of Kandahar and Zabul. Beside the seven Afghan soldiers killed, three were wounded, he said. “There are hundreds of Taliban in camps in the mountains. My officers have been spotting them and then the information is used by the American aircraft to bomb them,” Khan said. “Many of the rebels have started to flee the area.”

The military statement said, “Coalition warplanes and attack helicopters were hammering enemy positions throughout the evening.” O’Hara said the “operation to go after enemy safe havens is ongoing.”

“We are not letting up on the enemy and will continue to pursue them until the fighting stops. Coalition and Afghan forces will continue to defeat these militants for as long as necessary to ensure the people of Afghanistan remain free of oppression and tyranny,” he said. The names of the US wounded were withheld pending notification of their families. ap


http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_23-6-2005_pg1_1