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Afghanistan

13 Taleban Killed in Sweep of Southern Afghan District

2006-07-23

Afghan and coalition forces yesterday kept up a hunt for rebels who briefly captured two southern districts last week, killing 13 Taleban in the latest strikes, an official said. Another 15 were wounded in the operations, including air strikes, around Helmand province's Garmser and Naway-i-Barakzayi districts, provincial spokesman Moheedin Khan told AFP. On Friday Khan announced six other Taleban had been killed in the same area after hundreds of extra security forces were deployed to the desert region following the capture of the district headquarters late Monday. Dozens of rebels overran the headquarters at Garmser town, pushing out 40 police who officials said had been putting up resistance for two weeks. The militants torched the Afghan flag above the building and hoisted that of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, officials said.

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Afghanistan

Six Taliban, coalition troop and tribal chief killed in Afghanistan

2006-07-22

Security forces shot dead six Taliban in a southern Afghan district overrun by rebels last week, while a coalition soldier and a tribal chief were killed elsewhere, officials said on Friday. The Dutch forces in the southern province of Uruzgan meanwhile told a news agency in The Hague they have killed at least 18 enemy fighters over the past 10 days. The six rebels were killed in Helmand province's southernmost Garmser district on the border with Pakistan in a security sweep over the past two days, provincial spokesman Moheedin Khan told AFP. The Garmser headquarters was invaded by dozens of Taliban late on Monday causing the under strength police force to flee. Afghan and US-led coalition troops entered and secured the town early Wednesday with little resistance. The security forces late Tuesday secured adjoining Naway-i-Barakzayi after its district headquarters was also briefly overrun. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the killing a tribal chief in Helmand's Musa Qala district who was shot dead Thursday by two men on a motorbike, Khan said.

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Afghanistan

Taliban vows 'severe' action after towns are retaken

2006-07-21

Afghan and coalition soldiers on Wednesday recaptured the second of two towns that had been overrun by the Taliban, Afghan and U.S. officials said. Hundreds of troops battled Taliban fighters and entered the Helmand provincial town of Garmser, which insurgents had captured Sunday, said General Rahmatullah Roufi, the Afghan Army commander in the country's south. "Our troops launched an attack on Garmser and thank God we captured it," Roufi said. He declined to provide details. A purported Taliban statement threatened "severe" action in the coming days. The operation in Garmser followed an offensive against Taliban militants about 32 kilometers, or 20 miles, to the north in Naway-i-Barakzayi, which the insurgents captured Monday but apparently abandoned. A spokesman for the U.S. military, Lieutenant Colonel Paul Fitzpatrick, said Afghan and coalition forces "skirmished" with Taliban fighters outside Garmser but met no resistance once inside. "The Taliban appears to be bullying their way around some of the smaller towns in remote areas but they have no capability to lay claim to any piece of ground," Fitzpatrick said. Two Afghan soldiers were wounded in the operation, and the deputy governor of Helmand Province said two Taliban were also killed.

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Afghanistan

Pakistani militants accused of taking over Afghan town

2006-07-19

KABUL: Afghanistan’s deputy interior minister accused Pakistani militants of overrunning a southern Afghan town, which hundreds of Afghan troops, backed by coalition forces, are readying to wrest back. Helmand province’s deputy governor said 300 to 400 Afghan soldiers were heading to the southern town of Garmser, near the Pakistani border, which officials said was taken by Taliban forces on Sunday. “Our soldiers are going to Garmser with the support of the coalition to take it back from the Taliban,” said Amir Mohammed Akhunzada, the deputy governor. In Kabul, Deputy Interior Minister Abdul Malik Sidiqi accused Pakistan-based Islamic groups Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam of taking over Garmser. Sidiqi said a second Helmand town that had been overrun by militants - Naway-i-Barakzayi - was reclaimed by government forces late on Monday. Meanwhile, Taliban militants vowed to intensify their insurgency with fresh attacks and suicide bombings. “During these operations which will begin today or tomorrow, we’ll take most of the districts in southern and south-central Afghanistan,” purported Taliban spokesman Mohammad Hanif said. Earlier on Tuesday, the US military said a massive anti-insurgent operation being waged in southern Afghanistan has “seriously disrupted” the Taliban network there, particularly in the northern Helmand districts of Sangin, Musa Qala and Baghran.

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Afghanistan

Soldiers retake Afghan town from Taliban

2006-07-18

Run away, Brave Jihadi Bitches! KABUL, Afghanistan - Hundreds of Afghan and coalition soldiers reclaimed one southern town from the Taliban without incident Tuesday and were planning to recapture another, an Afghan official said. The troops descended on Naway-i-Barakzayi, taking back the town after Taliban fighters fled, said Amir Mohammed Akhunzada, the deputy governor of Helmand province. Insurgents torched a police compound, a health clinic and a school before leaving, he said. "The Afghan flag has been raised back over the compound," Akhunzada said. The troops were planning to move onto Garmser, a town of several thousand that was captured by militants Sunday, Akhunzada said. He did not say when operations there would begin. U.S.-led forces declared earlier Tuesday that the towns would be taken back in "decisive operations." They declined to comment on Akhunzada's report. Afghan officials said a small group of police had holed up in a concrete compound in Garmser for 16 days before they were defeated by scores of Taliban fighters, including some who had apparently crossed from Pakistan. Yes, ummmmmmmmm...apparently??? Large numbers of militants chased police from the town of Naway-i-Barakzay after a brief clash the next day, officials said. An official with the International Organization for Migration said about 4,000 Afghans have fled fighting between Taliban and coalition forces in southern Helmand province in recent days. It was not clear how many, if any, were escaping the two towns taken by the Taliban. Deputy Interior Minister Abdul Malik Sidiqi accused Pakistan-based Islamic groups Lashkar-e-Tayyaba — an outlawed militant organization — and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, a pro-Taliban political party, of aiding the Garmser takeover. "They burned the Afghan flag and raised the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam flag," Sidiqi told reporters, saying the government "technically and temporarily left Garmser ... to prevent casualties to civilian people." In the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore, Jamiat spokesman Riaz Durrani dismissed Afghan claims that his group's members were involved in the Helmand fighting. "We are not helping any militant group in Afghanistan against (President) Hamid Karzai's government, but the fact is that he has failed to restore order," Durrani told The Associated Press. He just restored it in Naway-i-Barakzayi. A Lashkar-e-Tayyaba spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment. Must've dropped his cellphone running away.

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Afghanistan

Forces Will Try to Retake Afghan Towns

2006-07-18

U.S.-led forces will launch 'decisive operations' to reclaim two southern towns captured in recent days by the Taliban, the military said Tuesday. Scores of Taliban militants chased police out of two southern Helmand districts near the Pakistani border. 'The Taliban extremists have taken control of the areas of Garmser and Naway-i-Barakzayi, however, coalition forces do have them under observation,' military spokesman Col. Tom Collins told reporters in Kabul. 'Decisive operations will begin soon,' he added without saying when. That's the problem with 'taking control' of a town. You've just announced where you are located, putting a big "Kick Me" sign on your back. Additional: KABUL, Afghanistan – Afghan troops on Tuesday prepared to deploy to a town in southern Afghanistan that one official said had been overrun by Pakistani militants. Between 300 and 400 Afghan soldiers were heading to the southern town of Garmser, near the Pakistani border, said Amir Mohammed Akhunzada, the deputy governor of Helmand province. “Our soldiers are going to Garmser with the support of the coalition to take it back from the Taliban,” he said. In Kabul, Deputy Interior Minister Abdul Malik Sidiqi accused Pakistan-based Islamic groups Lashkar-e-Tayyaba – an outlawed militant organization – and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam – a pro-Taliban political party – of taking over Garmser. Sidiqi said a second Helmand town that had been overrun by militants – Naway-i-Barakzayi – was reclaimed by government forces late Monday. “They burned the Afghan flag and raised the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam flag in the district,” Sidiqi told reporters. While Taliban militants have long operated freely in former southern stronghold provinces, their capture of a town highlights the weakness of Afghanistan's police forces in remote areas and the challenge ahead of U.S.-coalition troops to restore order in the country. Afghan officials have said scores of Taliban fighters, many crossing into Afghanistan from neighboring Pakistan, fought Garmser's small contingent of policemen – holed up in a concrete compound – for 16 days before the police were forced to withdraw Sunday. “The government of Afghanistan has technically and temporarily left Garmser,” Sidiqi said. “We did so to prevent casualties to civilian people.” Helmand is one of Afghanistan's most volatile regions, where Taliban extremists and heavily armed opium farmers have long operated freely. But stepped up coalition-led military operations in the province since June have pitted foreign troops and Islamic extremists against each other in some of Afghanistan's deadliest fighting since the Taliban's 2001 ouster. About 4,000 NATO-led British soldiers are deploying to Helmand to take over security control from U.S. forces at the end of the month. Sidiqi said a large group of Taliban that had stormed Naway-i-Barakzayi, to the north of Garmser, and briefly took control there Monday were turned back later in the day. Coalition military officials confirmed enemy “activity” in the areas but declined to comment further, saying only they were looking into the reports.

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