55 Afghanis Killed, Including 22 Civilians in US-NATO Air Strike

U.S.-led air raid kills 22 Afghan civilians

Fri Jul 4, 2008 10:32am EDT

ASADABAD, Afghanistan (Reuters) -

Twenty-two civilians, including women and children, were killed in an air strike by U.S.-led forces on Friday in Afghanistan's eastern province of Nuristan, an official said.

The attack happened on a road in Want district while the noncombatants were traveling in two vehicles, the district chief, Zia-Ul Rahman, told reporters.

"The civilians were evacuating the district as they were told by the U.S.-led troops to do so because they wanted to launch an operation against the Taliban," he said.

"The civilians were in two vehicles when killed by the air raid," he added.

The U.S. military confirmed the mission, but said there was no report of civilian injuries. It said the strike was in response to an attack by militants against NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) troops.

The issue of civilians killed by foreign troops is a sensitive one in Afghanistan as it undermines public support for the presence of around 71,000 international troops in the country and the government of President Hamid Karzai.

In the first six months of this year, 698 civilians were killed, 255 of them by Afghan government and foreign forces. In the same period last year, a total of 430 civilians were killed, the United Nations said last week.

(Reporting by Rohullah Anwari; Writing by Sayed Salahuddin; Editing by Jerry Norton).

Gunmen kill 8 police in southern Afghanistan

7/4/2008, 4:00 a.m. EDT

By NOOR KHAN The Associated Press  

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) —

Gunmen lobbed a grenade and sprayed a police checkpoint with gunfire in southern Afghanistan, killing eight officers, Kandahar's police chief said Friday.

The attack in Kandahar's Panjwayi district late Thursday also left one officer wounded and two others missing, said provincial police chief Sumanwal Matiullah.

The area where the attack happened is known as a base for Taliban fighters.

The under-trained and under-resourced Afghan police force is a frequent target of Taliban attacks. The force lost more than 1,000 officers in Taliban attacks last year.

Elsewhere, a roadside blast next to a police vehicle in central Ghazni province killed two officers and wounded five others, said deputy provincial police chief Mohammad Zaman. He blamed Taliban militants for the attack.

In eastern Paktika province, Afghan and foreign troops killed seven (alleged Taliban fighters) during a clash near the Pakistan border, said Ghamai Mohammadyar, a spokesman for the provincial governor.

The (Taliban fighters) had crossed from Pakistan and attacked Afghan border guards in Bermal district, he said. There were no casualties among Afghan and foreign troops.

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Associated Press reporter Amir Shah in Kabul contributed to this report.

10 Taliban killed while planting bomb

Jul 5, 2008, 3:28 AM EDT

By NOOR KHAN Associated Press Writer

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) --

Gunmen in a dangerous part of southern Afghanistan assassinated an Afghan lawmaker, while a roadside bomb (Taliban fighters) were planting detonated prematurely, killing 10 Taliban fighters, officials said Saturday.

The gunmen killed parliament member and former military commander Habibullah Jan after he visited an Afghan army compound in the Zhari district of Kandahar late Friday, said Kandahar provincial council member Bismillih Afghanmul.

Zhari is a volatile part of Kandahar contested heavily by militants and Canadian forces over the last two years.

Taliban fighters have frequently targeted Afghan officials, but Jan's death was the first of a parliamentarian in months.

In neighboring Helmand province, Taliban fighters planting a roadside bomb detonated the device prematurely, killing 10 Taliban fighters, said police chief Mohammad Hussein Andiwal.

The fact one bomb killed so many men appears to reflect the increased size of explosives Taliban fighters have been using in recent months. The bigger bombs - long used in Iraq but a fairly new phenomenon in Afghanistan - are shredding through heavily armored U.S. and NATO vehicles and killing multiple soldiers in one attack.

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Associated Press reporters Amir Shah in Kabul and Noor Khan in Kandahar contributed to this report.

5 Afghan soldiers killed in blast Article History

KABUL, Afghanistan -

A police chief says a roadside blast has killed five Afghan soldiers in central Afghanistan.

Provincial police chief Mustafa Khan says the blast hit an Afghan army convoy late Wednesday in Logar Province. Gunfire brought down a U.S. UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter in the same province on Wednesday. No US personnel were hurt.

In the northwest, Badghis provincial police chief Gen. Muhammed Ayub Naizyar says Afghan and international troops killed 25 Taliban fighters after they had ambushed an Afghan patrol in Muqur district.
Naizyar says 12 bodies of militants were left on the field and many others were wounded during the fight.
There was no report of casualties among Afghan or international forces.