43 Taliban Fighters, British & Danish Soldiers Killed in Afghanistan War Attacks

Editor's Note:

In the past, many civilians were killed in air strikes despite the claims they were Taliban fighters.

40 Taliban rebels, British soldier killed in Afghanistan

Afghanistan News.Net
Friday 25th July, 2008 (IANS)

At least 40 (alleged) Taliban fighters were killed in a US airstrike in east-central Afghan provice of Ghazni while a British soldier died in a clash with them in the south, officials said Friday.

US planes bombed a group of Taliban who were meeting near the district centre of Ajristan late Thursday, a spokesman for Ghazni Governor Ismail Jahangir said.

The Ajristan district was captured by the Taliban earlier this week. The (alleged Taliban fighters) were forced out of the district, leaving more than a dozen fatalities, as hundreds of Afghan troops moved in Wednesday.

The Taliban fighters have stepped up their activities in recent months mainly in the southern provinces.

In the southern province of Helmand, a soldier serving in the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was killed and two were wounded during fighting with the Taliban, an ISAF statement said.

The British Defence Ministry identified the casualties as British. The serviceman who was killed late Thursday was part of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps and died in the Sangin area while on patrol with two colleagues and an explosives sniffer dog, the ministry said.

A majority of the up to 7,000 troops based in Helmand are British.

Meanwhile, a US-led coalition force member died Friday in Afghanistan of what the coalition said was non-combat-related causes, without giving details.

A brief press release from the coalition's military base in Bagram said the name and nationality of the deceased were being withheld pending the notification of family.

2 NATO soldiers killed in Afghanistan

25. July 2008, 12:55
AP -

A British army dog handler was fatally shot by (Taliban fighters) in southern Afghanistan, where a Danish soldier died in a separate roadside bomb attack, officials said Friday.

Britain's Ministry of Defense said the soldier from the Royal Army Veterinary Corps was hit by small arms fire during a patrol in the Sangin area of Helmand province on Thursday. An explosives sniffer dog also died.

Six troops were wounded, all from the elite Parachute Regiment, the ministry said. None of their injuries was life-threatening.

The latest death brings the number of British troops killed in Afghanistan since 2001 to 112.

Southern Afghanistan is at the center of the Taliban-led (resistance to NATO forces), which has killed more than 2,700 people so far this year. The (Taliban fighters) also exert significant influence in Afghanistan's east nearly seven years after a U.S.-led invasion of the country ousted the Taliban from overall control.

Denmark's army said a Danish soldier was killed and three others were wounded Friday when their armored vehicle hit an explosive device, also in Helmand province.

The victim was a member of the Jutland Dragoon Regiment, the Danish army said.

The death brings the number of Danish troops killed in Afghanistan since 2001 to 15.

Separately, Afghanistan's Interior Ministry said three Taliban (fighters) died in a fight with police in Gereshk district, also in Helmand, on Friday. There were no police casualties.

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