Foreign soldiers among dozens killed in Afghanistan

June 20, 2009

KABUL (AFP) –

Four foreign soldiers and dozens of Afghans, mostly Taliban fighters, have been killed in two days of violence across insurgency-hit Afghanistan, authorities said Saturday.

One soldier serving with the US-led coalition was killed in a Taliban fighters' attack in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday.

"A coalition service member was killed during an attack on a convoy in eastern Afghanistan... today," the coalition said in a statement, without giving further details including the exact location of the incident.

The British defence ministry said one of its soldiers with the separate NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was killed in an explosion Friday while on patrol near the town of Lashkar Gah in the southern province of Helmand.

With the latest deaths a total of four foreign troops have been killed since Friday, and 146 have died since the start of this year, the bloodiest since 2001.

Afghan authorities meanwhile reported that six civilians and dozens of Taliban fighters were killed in other violence across the country, highlighting the threat the country faces as it prepares for presidential polls in August.

In an attack late Friday, a roadside bomb tore through a car in the western province of Herat, killing six members of a family, the provincial government said.

"We suspect the bomb was planted by the Taliban to target security forces. It struck a civilian car and killed three women and three men," Naqibullah Arween, a spokesman for the local administration, told AFP.

Meanwhile, authorities in southern Afghanistan said 33 Taliban fighters were killed in an air strike and other operations in Helmand.

Twenty-six Taliban were killed in an air strike conducted by foreign forces near Lashkar Gah late Friday, said Daud Ahmadi, a spokesman for the local administration there.

"A group of Taliban fighters were targeted from the air by coalition forces. Twenty-six enemy fighters were killed in that strike," Ahmadi told AFP. He said the rebels left their dead comrades behind as they fled the scene.

The US-led coalition denied involvement in the incident while ISAF could not immediately provide information.

General Sher Mohammad Zazai, the commander of the Afghan army for southern Afghanistan, said seven other insurgents were killed elsewhere in Helmand the same day.

The general said the rebels were killed during operations recently launched across southern Afghanistan to push back the Taliban fighters from their strongholds ahead of the polls on August 20.

Afghan and international forces have intensified efforts against the Taliban to secure the elections, the second-ever presidential election, as militant attacks increased to record highs in recent weeks.

There are close to 90,000 foreign, mainly Western, forces based in Afghanistan fighting Taliban fighters since they were ousted from power in a US-led offensive in late 2001.

1 tank of NATO blew up in Uruzgan

 Today afternoon 20-06-2009 at approximately 4:00 pm local time, a tank of the NATO army was blown up by the landmine planted by the mujahedin of the Islamic Emirate when they were traveling in Tanki  area of Derawat District of Uruzgan province .

 According to a report, in explosion the tank was destroyed  and 7 soldiers on board were killed or wounded in the remote-controlled mine explosion.   

Reported by Qari Yousuf Ahmadi

In ambush 6 police killed 10 wounded in Kapisa

Today noon 20-06-06-2009 at approximately 11 pm local time , Mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan ambushed a patrol of puppet police near the center of Alsi district of Kapisa province, in the ambush Mujahideen killed 6 (Afghani soldiers) and wounded 10 , also the weapons of killed soldiers were mujahideen booty .

In attack 2 mujahideen were martyred and 2 wounded.

Reported by Zabihullah Mujahid