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Afghanistan

Fresh strikes kill 27 Taliban in western Afghanistan

2010-04-07

[Dawn] Afghanistan's military says 27 Taliban insurgents have been killed in ground fighting and air strikes in a western province. Western Afghanistan corps commander Gen. Jalandar Shah Behnam says troops dropped by parachute behind Taliban lines in Badghis province helped trap the militants in an offensive launched by NATO and Afghan forces. He said fighting continued from the pre-dawn hours well into Tuesday afternoon. He said that in addition to the 27 Taliban bodies collected, one Afghan soldier was killed and five wounded. One US soldier was wounded. Behnam described the targeted area as one that had emerged as a Taliban stronghold in the past three years. It lies on a key highway.

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Afghanistan

27 Taliban reported killed in western fighting

2010-04-06

Afghanistan's military said 27 insurgents were been killed in ground fighting and airstrikes in a western province on Tuesday, in what appeared to be a major blow to Taliban influence in the region, while four civilians died in a NATO airstrike in the south. NATO and Afghan forces launched an operation western Badghis province before dawn, with troops parachuting behind Taliban lines to trap the militants, the regional Afghan corps commander Gen. Jalandar Shah Behnam said. Fighting continued well into Tuesday afternoon, he said. In addition to the 27 Taliban bodies collected, one Afghan soldier was killed and five wounded, he said. One U.S. soldier was reported wounded.

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Afghanistan

Local Taliban Spokesman Detained

2009-10-12

[Quqnoos] Afghan forces have arrested four Taliban insurgents, including a Taliban spokesman, in western Afghanistan, officials said on Sunday. Bashir Qinaat, who was claiming responsibility for multiple insurgent attacks on behalf of the Taliban, was captured in a military operation in the Guzara district of the western Herat province. Mr Qinaat has been accused of having ties with the Al Qaeda network and other sources funding the insurgency in Afghanistan, said Gen Jalandar Shah Behnam, Commander of Afghan Army in western Afghanistan. The detained Taliban media man has links with two other purported Taliban spokesmen in the restive southern Afghan region, Gen Behnam added. The official further said that Qinaat was arrested just a day after the killing of a key militant commander, Ghulam Yahya Akbari, in the region. The prominent militant leader, including 26 insurgents, was killed in a major overnight military offensive in the district of Guzara. Afghan and NATO-led forces stormed a militant stronghold in the district on Thursday, killing scores of insurgents, including their leader, Akbari. The death of Akbari is considered a major blow in the militant network in Herat. Akbari's militant group has been known as 'Al Fath' and was apparently affiliated both to Taliban and Al Qaeda networks.

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Afghanistan

Strike 'killed 60 young Afghans' says UN

2008-08-26

There is convincing evidence that 60 children and 30 adults were killed in a US air strike in western Afghanistan last Friday, the United Nations says. The US originally said its planes had killed 30 militants in the attack in the province of Herat. President Karzai sacked two senior Afghan army officers over the incident. The US says Afghan forces led the operation in the district of Shindand. The incident has worsened relations between Mr Karzai and foreign forces. On Monday the government said it wanted to renegotiate the terms under which US-led forces and Nato-led forces operate in Afghanistan. If confirmed, the Shindand incident is one of the worst cases of foreign forces killing Afghan civilians. The UN investigation was carried out by its Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (Unama). "Investigations by Unama found convincing evidence, based on the testimony of eyewitnesses, and others, that some 90 civilians were killed, including 60 children, 15 women and 15 men," the UN's Special Envoy to Afghanistan, Kai Eide, said in a statement issued on Tuesday. "The destruction from aerial bombardment was clearly evident with some seven-eight houses having been totally destroyed and serious damage to many others. "Local residents were able to confirm the number of casualties, including names, age and gender of the victims." The UN investigation adds further weight to the Afghan government's own report into the incident. President Karzai's office said on Sunday that "89 of our innocent countrymen, including women and children" died in the incident. Reports say that Afghan soldiers were fighting Taleban militants in the village of Azizabad and called in US air forces for help. President Karzai subsequently sacked Gen Jalandar Shah Behnam, head of the army in western Afghanistan, and Maj Abdul Jabar, for "neglecting their duties and concealing the facts", indicating that they were partly to blame for the incident. The US has said it is carrying out its own investigation into the attack. An Afghan general said the air strike was launched following intelligence that a Taleban commander, Mullah Siddiq, was presiding over a meeting of militants. Afghan tribal elders said a bomb was dropped on a large group of mourners at a funeral wake. The issue of civilian casualties has been a constant source of friction between Mr Karzai and international forces.

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Afghanistan

Afghans sacked over deadly strike

2008-08-25

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has sacked two senior military commanders over an air strike two days ago that he said killed 89 civilians. The president had previously criticised US forces for "unilateral operations" over the strike in the Afghan west. But he later appeared to suggest Afghan forces were partly to blame, ordering the removal of a general and a major. The US originally said its strike had killed 30 militants. It is looking into the claims of many civilian deaths. A statement from President Karzai's office said he had ordered "the immediate removal" of General Jalandar Shah Behnam, head of the army in western Afghanistan, and Major Abdul Jabar, for "neglecting their duties and concealing the facts". Both were summoned to Kabul for further questioning. "In the tragic air strike and irresponsible and imprecise military operation in Azizabad village... more than 89 of our innocent countrymen, including women and children, were martyred," the statement said. That was an increase on the death toll of 76 originally stated by the interior ministry. The two Afghan officers were commanding forces in Herat province when the air strike occurred. A US coalition spokeswoman, Rumi Nielson-Green, said the operation on Friday was led by the Afghan National Army, with support from the US-led coalition. An Afghan general said the air strike was launched following intelligence that a Taleban commander, Mullah Siddiq, was presiding over a meeting of militants. The US originally said 30 militants were killed, including Mullah Siddiq. Then it said five civilians - two women and three children connected to the militants - were among the dead. Later, it said it was investigating the Afghan reports of mass casualties. 'No clear reason for strike' Afghan tribal elders say a bomb was actually dropped on a large group of mourners at a funeral wake. Most of those dead were reported to be children. "We went to the area and found out that the bombardment was very heavy. Lots of houses have been destroyed and more than 90 non-combatants including women, children and elders have died," said Afghanistan's religious affairs minister, Nematullah Shahrani, appointed by President Karzai to lead an inquiry into the incident. Such attacks are undermining attempts to win over Afghans He said US forces "claimed that Taleban were there. They must prove it. So far it is not clear for us why the coalition conducted the air strikes." He also criticised a lack of co-ordination between Afghan and coalition forces.

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Afghanistan

Attacks kill Afghan soldiers, police

2008-05-18

Four Afghan security personnel and a civilian were killed in bomb blasts and a gunfight with Taliban on Saturday, while air strikes killed several extremist rebels, officials said. "Police did not suffer any casualty but a civilian passerby was killed and another was injured." The civilian died when a bomb fixed to a bicycle exploded in the troubled southern city of Kandahar as a police vehicle passed, police officer Faiz Mohammad told AFP from the site. "Police did not suffer any casualty but a civilian passerby was killed and another was injured," he said. Hours later, another bomb blast hit Afghan soldiers on a logistics mission in the neighbouring province of Helmand, a focus of a Taliban-led insurgency, the defence ministry in Kabul said. The explosion killed two soldiers and injured four others, it said. Meanwhile in Ghazni, two police officers were killed and four others were injured in a gunfight with Taliban insurgents, police said. A Taliban militant was also killed in the three-hour gunfight in Ghazni's Andar area, deputy border police commander Assadullah Nawrozi said. Two other Taliban died in Andar when a mine they were trying to plant blew up. Two other Taliban died in Andar when a mine they were trying to plant blew up, police said. Elsewhere, the Afghan army said international forces had bombed a Taliban mountain hideout in the southwestern province of Farah on Friday, killing seven rebels. The strikes were part of a new Afghan and international military operation that began in the province Friday, said the most senior Afghan army commander in western Afghanistan, Jalandar Shah Behnam. Forces also captured two "senior" Taliban commanders from the region and freed two civilians who were held as hostages, the defence ministry said. Farah has experienced a string of bloody attacks in recent weeks, including a suicide bombing on Thursday that killed 16 people. Separately, the US military said "several extremists" were killed in operations in the eastern province of Khost aimed at a Taliban involved in bomb attacks on troops. Friday's operations were in a district where a suicide attack in March killed two NATO soldiers and two civilians. Forces also said they had arrested nearly 20 suspected militants across the country, eight of them in eastern Nangarhar province bordering Pakistan. A local police commander said however that the men captured in Nangarhar were civilians and alleged that troops had beaten people during the operation. "The men captured by Americans are not Taliban. They are innocent civilians," said Malik Zarjan, police chief of Nangarhar's Achin district. "I went to the area and I saw a 90-year-old man who was badly beaten by Americans. He was screaming," he said.

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