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Afghanistan

Attack on Afghan Nato base foiled

2008-08-20

At least six suicide bombers have been killed in an attempted attack on a Nato military base in south-eastern Afghanistan, Nato officials have said. The militants failed to storm Camp Salerno in Khost province, where many US troops are based, Nato and Afghan officials said. Nato has faced a barrage of attacks across the country since Monday. Officials say heavy fighting is also taking place near the capital, Kabul, after a Nato patrol was ambushed. A spokesman for the Nato-led International Security and Assistance Force (Isaf) said a major incident had been going on since Monday. He said there was heavy fighting going on in the area and it was believed there were some casualties. The growing numbers of insurgent attacks close to the capital, Kabul, have heightened fears that the Taleban are encroaching on the capital city, says the BBC's Alastair Leithead, in Kabul. Before the attack in Khost, the Taleban announced that a group of 30 Taleban fighters would attack Camp Salerno. Isaf confirmed that Camp Salerno had been attacked by rockets or mortars, and that a number of suicide bombers had tried to storm the base. "Isaf forces on the base had before identified a group of insurgents posturing to attack the base and engaged them with small arms fire," a statement said. "Helicopters arrived on station soon after and engaged these insurgents as they attempted to flee from the scene. "Three of the insurgents killed themselves by detonating their suicide vests. Isaf forces killed three other suicide bombers before they could detonate their vests. There were no Isaf casualties in the attack," the statement said.

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Afghanistan

Afghan bomb kills bus passengers

2008-05-27

A roadside bomb has hit a bus in Afghanistan, killing eight passengers and wounding another, officials say. The vehicle was on its way to Nimroz province, Younus Rasuli, deputy governor of Farah province, said. The western provinces which border Iran are frequently attacked. Although militants mostly target military convoys, civilians are often killed. There has been no indication so far of who was responsible - similar attacks have been blamed on the Taleban. The list of suspects is usually pretty short: Talibs, itinerant Arabians, or Hekmatyar. It's probably not the Tamil Tigers, FARC, or the ETA. Afghanistan is witnessing a surge in violence, with the Taleban fighting the government of President Hamid Karzai and the tens of thousands of foreign troops deployed there. Nimroz province, which borders Iran, is one of the few Afghan provinces which does not have a permanent presence of international troops and it has seen an increase in violence over the past few months. It is thought the Taleban influence has been growing as fighters have moved across the border in Helmand, where they have increasingly been coming under pressure from international forces, says the BBC's Alastair Leithead in Kabul.

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Afghanistan

Taleban forces retake Afghan town

2007-02-03

Taleban forces in southern Afghanistan have taken control of a town which British troops had pulled out of after a peace deal with local elders. Some local people said they were leaving the town, Musa Qala in Helmand province, for fear of bombing raids on the Taleban by Nato forces. US commanders and diplomats had criticised the deal. They said it had not been done with elders but with the Taleban themselves and was not the way to defeat them. The BBC's Alastair Leithead in Kabul says the loss of Musa Qala to the Taleban is a blow to the strategy of establishing peace deals in Helmand. A fatal blow, I hope. It comes just days before the British hand over command of Nato forces to an American general. My boy friend's back and you're gonna be in trouble... The Musa Qala peace deal was a controversial change of tactics for British troops in Afghanistan. It saw them pull out of the small Helmand town as part of an agreement with the elders, who said they would keep Taleban fighters out of the town centre and run security with their own auxiliary police unit. There has been peace for a 142 days, a British spokesman said - but that appears to have come to an end. We beat the Paleostinians by a mile. The Helmand governor and local people told the BBC that the Taleban had moved in overnight, arrested some of the elders who opposed them and destroyed part of the government compound. It was this compound that British troops defended from wave after wave of attack in the summer.

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Afghanistan

BBC: Hunting Taliban With 3 Commando

2006-12-05

In the remote desert of southern Afghanistan, a struggle is intensifying between British troops and the forces of the Taleban. Around 5,800 UK troops are stationed in Afghanistan, following the US-led invasion in October 2001, and so far more than 40 have been killed. The majority of the deployment is in Helmand which is an area of major Taleban activity and opium production. Amid battle scenes that have been described by one commander as the most intense "since the Korean War", the BBC's Alastair Leithead, award-winning cameraman Fred Scott and field producer Peter Emmerson spent nine days embedded with UK forces in southern Helmand province, facing the risk of ambush and attack. During the trip, the BBC team gained unique, prolonged access to the soldiers of the Royal Marines 3 Commando Brigade as they fight a shifting and elusive Taleban threat. Video is on upper right corner of the screen. Disregard message at the bottom of the screen.

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Britain

Unfriendly Fire

2006-11-07

From a blog, but too good to pass up Wonder how popular the BBC's Alastair Leithead is among the Royal Marines he's embedded with in southern Afghanistan. It's a dangerous place, what with rogue Taliban fighters, flying mortars and regular machine gun attacks. And then there's the other danger... clumsy journalists. "And there are other dangers - the 24-hour ration packs are very good and if there's time are heated up on small, metal solid fuel stoves which are light and ideal for boiling water. "The silver bags of ready made food are popped on and 10 or 15 minutes later the meal is piping hot. "I struck a heavy duty match or two on the side of the car and lit the stove, wandering off and thinking little of it, but the first match head had flicked onto a rucksack and it had caught fire. "Fred the cameraman spotted the flames licking about a gun propped up at the side and the fire was out in no time, but the fuel, and thousands of rounds of ammunition on board could well have gone up. It's when you realise the value of military discipline, and the dangers other than coming under fire of living a semi-nomadic life in the desert. "I've now been denied access to matches."

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Afghanistan

Top Taleban commander jugged

2006-05-19

One of the Taleban's leading commanders, Mullah Dadullah, has been captured by international troops in Afghanistan, the BBC has been told. He is said to have been detained in the southern province of Kandahar. The BBC's Alastair Leithead in Kabul says Mullah Dadullah has a reputation as a brutal military commander. Last year a court in Pakistan sentenced Mullah Dadullah to life in prison for trying to kill a member of the Pakistani parliament. Three years ago, Mullah Dadullah told the BBC the Taleban, deposed in 2001, hoped to regain power in Afghanistan. Now, which Mullah Dadullah is this, I seem to remember two or three running around. We'll take any of 'em ...

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