20 Afghanis Killed by US-Led Forces, April 6, 2009

20 Afghanis Killed by US-Led Forces, April 6, 2009

ccun.org Editor's Note:

In previous attacks, initial reports about killing Taliban fighters turned to be incorrect, as many of the victims were innocent civilians. Even the puppet president, Karzai, criticized it, which was unpleasant for his backers.

14 Taliban fighters slain in Afghan clash

KABUL, Afghanistan, April 6, 2009 (UPI) --

Fourteen Taliban fighters were slain Monday by a joint force of U.S.-led coalition troops and an Afghan security team, officials said Monday.

The Taliban fighters were killed in an operation conducted in Qalat, capital of Afghanistan's southern province of Zabul, KUNA, the Kuwait news agency, reported.

A statement issued from the U.S. forces' Bagram Air Base near Kabul said the raid was conducted to track down those involved in making improvised explosive devices. It said the Taliban fighters used heavy and small weapons with rocket-propelled grenades against the joint force but the coalition soldiers returned fire and called in airstrikes "after positively identifying the armed militants and assurance that there were no non-combatants," KUNA reported.

The U.S. statement asserted that no civilians were killed or injured in the operation and didn't mention losses to the U.S. or Afghan troops, the news agency said.

Bombs kill six in Afghanistan: officials

Mon Apr 6, 2009, 11:12 am ET

KABUL (AFP) –

Bomb blasts in eastern Afghanistan on Monday killed two members of the Afghan security forces and four Taliban fighters, officials said, in new incidents linked to a growing Taliban-led insurgency.

The bloodshed came as German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited German troops based in the north and the top US military commander, Admiral Mike Mullen, wound up a visit to assess efforts to reverse the flagging war.

One of the blasts struck a joint Afghan police and army operation aimed at (Taliban fighters) in the eastern province of Khost on the border with Pakistan, the interior ministry said in a statement.

"One soldier and a border policeman were martyred while another policeman was wounded during the operation when their vehicle was blown up," it said. Six alleged Taliban fighters were arrested.

Elsewhere in the same province, four alleged Taliban fighters were killed in an explosion in a house.

"It seems that they were making a bomb that exploded," Sabari district chief Dawlat Khan Qayomi told AFP.

Pakistan's semi-autonomous North Waziristan tribal area across the border from Khost is a stronghold for Al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters, whom Afghan and US officials say mount cross-border attacks against troops in Afghanistan.

There are 42 nations contributing to a NATO-led force, dominated by the United States, that is helping Afghanistan fight the rebels.

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