Police, Taliban Militants Killed In Afghanistan

December 28, 2009

(RTTNews) -

A Taliban strike on a police post in western Afghanistan killed two police officers and three Taliban fighters. Three other police officers were missing after the attack in Qadis district in the western province of Badghis Sunday night, reports said.

Also Sunday, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) bombarded a Taliban hide-out in Narang district in the eastern province of Kunar, killing 11 Taliban fighters. A local Taliban commander was among those killed. Following local media reports that those killed were civilians, the Afghan Parliament sent a delegation to investigate the incident.

Ten Afghan civilians killed in military operations

December 28, 2009

KABUL (AFP) –

Ten civilians, mostly school children, have been killed during Western military operations in eastern Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai's office said Monday, citing "initial reports".

Karzai condemned the killings, which his statement said took place in Kunar province on the border with Pakistan on Saturday.

"Initial reports indicate that in a series of operations by international forces in Kunar province... 10 civilians, eight of them school students, have been killed," the statement said.

"President Karzai strongly condemns the operation which caused civilian deaths and has appointed a delegation to investigate the incident," it said.

A senior official in the Afghan government, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the death toll could change because investigations were ongoing.

Politicians representing Kunar walked out of an important parliamentary session debating appointments to Karzai's new cabinet to protest the civilian casualties, television showed.

When contacted on Sunday, NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) had no information on any operations or casualties in Kunar.

A senior Western military official told AFP that US Special Forces have been conducting operations against militants in the border regions of Kunar.

"They have been killing a lot of Taliban and capturing a lot of Taliban," he said, speaking on condition that he not be named.

The operations were being conducted independently of NATO and coalition forces, which number more than 110,000 and are fighting to eradicate the Taliban.

NATO-Afghan force kills Taliban commander

Published: Dec. 27, 2009 at 2:16 PM

ZABUL, Afghanistan, Dec. 27, 2009 (UPI) --

An Afghan Taliban commander said responsible for roadside bombing attacks was slain Sunday, NATO officials said.

An Afghan-international security force killed the commander as well as several other Taliban fighters during an operation in Zabul, the International Security Assistance Force Afghanistan said in a statement.

Officials said the joint security force went to a mountainous rural area in the Jeldak district after intelligence sources confirmed militant activity. When the soldiers called for the Taliban fighters to surrender, their force came under hostile fire and returned fire, killing several militants, including the Taliban commander, and wounding several others.

ISAF said machine guns, rocket-propelled-grenades and a significant amount of "improvised explosive device" components were recovered from the scene.