US troops kill 14 Afghanis

9. November 2008, 13:37
By RAHIM FAIEZ, Associated Press Writer
KABUL, Afghanistan –

Two Spanish soldiers died when a suicide bomber drove into a convoy in western Afghanistan on Sunday, while U.S. coalition forces separately killed 14 Afghanis, officials said.

The suicide bomber attacked the troops in the western province of Herat, which generally experiences much less violence than southern and eastern provinces.

Carmen Chacon of the Spanish Defense Ministry said six Spanish armored military vehicles were escorting 12 Afghan army trucks when the suicide bomber rammed his truck into the last vehicle in the convoy. Two Spanish soldiers were killed and four were wounded, she said.

More U.S. and NATO troops have died in Afghanistan this year than in any other year since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion. Taliban attacks have become increasingly sophisticated and powerful.

In the east, in Khost province, U.S. coalition forces stopped suspected Afghanis in a vehicle Sunday, said Col. Greg Julian, a U.S. military spokesman.

Julian said helicopter gunfire was also used against the Afghanis and 14 were killed.

The province's governor, Arsallah Jamal, said the 14 men were civilian construction workers and were not militants. But Julian insisted that the 14 were militants.

"The main thing is they started firing on these guys (soldiers) after they made the vehicle stop," Julian said.

Civilian deaths caused by U.S. and NATO military forces is a hugely sensitive issue in Afghanistan. This week the U.S. said a joint U.S.-Afghan investigation found that 37 civilians were killed during a battle between U.S. troops and Taliban militants in the village of Wech Baghtu in Kandahar province.