8 NATO Soldiers, 66 Afghanis Killed in War Attacks, on July 13, 2008

8 NATO Soldiers, 66 Afghanis Killed in War Attacks, on July 13, 2008

Aljazeera tv and aljazeera.net in Arabic reported that eight NATO forces were killed in the fighting today. However, Reuters reported only two below.

40 Taliban fighters killed in southern Afghanistan

Afghanistan News.Net
Sunday 13th July, 2008 (IANS)
Kabul, July 13 (Xinhua)

At least 40 Taliban fighters have been killed in an operation carried out by Afghan and US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan's southern province of Helmand, the military said Sunday.

The operation started Saturday after Taliban fighters attacked a coalition forces' patrol in Sangin district, the US military said in a statement from its headquarters at Bagram Air Field, north of the capital Kabul.

Taliban fighters used small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades, from 'multiple concealed and fortified positions', the statement said.

The operation is currently ongoing and more information would be released when available, it said.

The US is leading around 20,000 multi-national coalition troops in Afghanistan to fight the Taliban fighters.

Fighting erupts in Afghanistan

Afghanistan News.Net
Sunday 13th July, 2008 (IANS)

The International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) and the Afghan National Army (ANA) Sunday were involved in heavy fighting with Taliban fighters in Dara-I-Pech district of eastern Afghan province of Kunar even as 24 people were killed in a suicide attack in the south.

'The fighting began at about 4:30 am (0100 GMT) today,' the ISAF headquarters said in an official press release Sunday.

Taliban fighters "have been firing with small arms, machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars using homes, shops and the mosque in the village of Wanat for cover. The combined ISAF and ANA forces responded with small arms, machine guns, mortars, artillery, close air support and helicopters,' the ISAF officials said.

There had been casualties on both sides, but ISAF refrained from releasing any numbers as the fighting was ongoing.

In southern Helmand province Sunday, 20 civilians and four police officers were killed Sunday in a suicide attack on a market in the southern Afghanistan province of Uruzgan, police said.

Some 40 people - most of them children and shopkeepers - were wounded when the bomber blew himself up in a marketplace in Deh Rawud district of Uruzgan, provincial police chief Jumal Gul Hemat said. The bomber also destroyed around nine shops, he added.

The incident came a day after a teenager blew himself up near an Afghan National Army (ANA) camp in the southern province of Helmand, killing two soldiers and a child.

Police say 24 killed in Afghan suicide blast

13. July 2008, 03:01
By NOOR KHAN, Associated Press Writer

A suicide bomber on a motorcycle blew himself up next to a police patrol in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, killing 24 people, including 19 civilians, a provincial police chief said.

The attack in the southern province of Uruzgan also killed five police officers and wounded more than 30 others, said Juma Gul Himat.

The bomber struck the police patrol in a busy intersection of Deh Rawood district, Himat said. The bombing also damaged or destroyed about nine shops in the area, he said.

Most of those killed and wounded were shopkeepers and young boys selling cigarettes and other goods in the street, Himat said.

Afghan civilians have suffered from a rash of bombings this month. Around 55 civilians were killed in a massive bomb attack on the Indian Embassy in Kabul on Monday, while a government commission said this week that U.S. airstrikes killed 47 civilians in Nangarhar on July 6.

Elsewhere, Taliban militants executed two women in central Afghanistan after accusing them of working as prostitutes on a U.S. base.

The women, dressed in blue burqas, were shot and killed late Saturday just outside Ghazni city in central Afghanistan, said Sayed Ismal, a spokesman for Ghazni's governor. He called the two "innocent local people."

Taliban fighters told Associated Press Television News that the two were executed for allegedly running a prostitution ring catering to U.S. soldiers and other foreign contractors at a U.S. base in Ghazni city.

1st Lt. Nathan Perry, a U.S. military spokesman, said he has never heard of allegations "anything close to that nature."

In Logar province, gunmen kidnapped parliament member Abdul Wali and his driver on Sunday, said provincial police chief Gen. Mohammad Mustafa.

2 Taliban killed by group of Afghan villagers

10. July 2008, 17:36
By AMIR SHAH, Associated Press Writer

A group of villagers in northwestern Afghanistan used a machine gun, sticks and stones to kill two Taliban fighters and chase 10 others away, a provincial police chief said Thursday.

They had tried to abduct local aid workers who were building a well in the Qayar district of Faryab province on Wednesday, said the police chief, Khalil Andarabi.

The villagers confronted the fighters, and after a brief altercation, shot at them, killing two and forcing the rest to flee, he said.

The bodies of the dead militants, which included the Taliban-appointed shadow governor for the province, were still with the villagers, Andarabi said.

In areas where there is a Taliban presence, the militants appoint representatives to carry out administrative jobs such as tax collection and resolving disputes using traditional methods.

Cases of villagers attacking the Taliban are rare in the region and the authorities have moved additional troops in to prevent any Taliban retaliation, Andarabi said.

"According to our culture, when the people invited the aid workers to dig a well they cannot allow the Taliban to kidnap and behead them," Andarabi said. "They were guests, and we never give up our guests."

Separately, a roadside bomb in the eastern province of Paktika killed two NATO soldiers and wounded a third. NATO did not release the nationalities of the soldiers, but most troops in Paktika are American.

Also, NATO-led forces said troops in central Logar province killed a Taliban fighter involved with suicide bombing networks. The alliance accused the fighter, Mohammed Daud Rahimi, of identifying targets for suicide bombers in Kabul and helping the bombers into the city.

A woman and a man were wounded during the Wednesday raid, NATO said. The woman was released after being treated. Two men were also detained for questioning.

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