KABUL - Insurgents disguised as American soldiers attacked two U.S. bases in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday morning and managed to breach the perimeter of one of them before being repelled, according to NATO and Afghan officials. The assault began at about 4 a.m., when dozens of Taliban fighters, some wearing U.S. military uniforms, launched simultaneous attacks on Forward Operating Base Salerno, in Khost province.
They fired mortars or rockets, along with grenades and guns, and two insurgents entered FOB Salerno by cutting a hole in a fence, NATO officials said. No Afghan or U.S. troops died in the assault, but four NATO troops and an Afghan policeman were wounded, and a 12-year-old Afghan boy was killed, according to Gen. Abdul Hakim Ishaqzai, the police chief in Khost.
The response to the attack was swift and deadly. Afghan security forces, along with U.S. troops, killed about 15 insurgents at FOB Salerno and six more at FOB Chapman, while three others, including a Taliban commander, were killed by an airstrike after they were spotted fleeing the scene of the attacks, NATO said. Five were captured, it said.
Captured in US uniforms? That should get you one behind the ear.
So 24 dead, 5 captured? Sounds like a helluva "strategy"... |