3 US Soldiers, 29 Afghanis Killed in Attacks and Air Strikes, June 4, 2009

3 US Soldiers, 29 Afghanis Killed in Attacks and Air Strikes, June 4, 2009

alemarah1.org reported the following news links:

An explosion in Sabariyo killed 5 foreign soldiers

6 Afghani soldiers were killed in an explosion on a convoy near

8 Afghani soldiers were killed on the main road of Kunduz-Baghlan

Sarabagh Air Base near Khost was attacked by Ballistic Missiles

An explosion in Tagab destroyed a French tank.

=====================

Taliban kill 3 US soldiers in Afghanistan

AP – By Chris Brummitt, Associated Press

Thu Jun 4, 2009

KABUL –

Taliban fighters detonated a bomb and opened fire on a vehicle carrying U.S. soldiers on Thursday, killing three of them, as President Barack Obama said he did not want to keep American troops in Afghanistan longer than necessary.

The ambush took place not far from the main U.S. base in Bagram, just north of the capital Kabul. It was the third strike by (Taliban fighters) in the region in less than a week, part of a surge in violence eight years after the U.S invaded to oust the Taliban regime.

Obama made the remarks in Egypt in a speech aimed at healing relations between the United States and Muslims. He said he did not want to establish permanent bases or keep troops in Afghanistan, but that both were currently needed to fight "extremists" (the Obama new term replacing the Bush term of "terrorists") intent on killing as many Americans as they can.

"It is agonizing for America to lose our young men and women," said Obama, who has ordered 21,000 extra troops to Afghanistan, adding to the around 60,000 foreign soldiers already in the country.

Humayun Hamidzada, a spokesman for Afghan President Hamid Karzai, said Obama's statement "reflected the reality."

"We are grateful for the support and sacrifice of the U.S. but we would like to stand on our own two feet as quickly as possible," Hamidzada said.

Thursday's attack took place in Kapisa province, near to the Bagram base that is home to thousands of troops and the U.S. command, the military said in a statement. Three Americans were killed and another soldier, whose nationality was not released, was injured.

Kapisa is considered a stronghold of insurgents loyal to Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.

In other violence, police found the body of candidate for upcoming provincial elections in Wardak province, west of Kabul, said police chief Khial Baz Sherzai. Suspected (Taliban fighters) kidnapped the candidate, Yeiya Mulaye Azhar, 11 days ago, he said.

Afghans are scheduled to go to the polls on Aug. 20 to elect a president and provincial officials.

Militants have urged the country's 30 million people not to vote.

A roadside bomb Wednesday killed four farmers as they returned from the fields in southern Kandahar province, said Abuduulah Khan, deputy provincial police chief. Khan blamed the Taliban for the attack, saying the device was likely meant for the Afghan and international forces who regularly use the road.

Three US soldiers, poll candidate killed in Afghanistan

Thu Jun 4, 2009, 2:23 pm ET

KABUL (AFP) –

Three US soldiers were killed in an attack in Afghanistan Thursday as other insurgency-linked unrest claimed the lives of five Afghan civilians, including a candidate in provincial council elections.

The soldiers were attacked just north of Kabul, where US troops are operating alongside the French military.

"Three coalition service members were killed in an attack on their convoy in Kapisa province this morning when their convoy struck an improvised explosive device and came under small-arms fire," the military said.

The force's media office told AFP separately that the three were from the United States.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but (Taliban fighters) from the Hezb-e-Islami faction led by former prime minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar are active in the area.

Wednesday's killings would take to 126 the number of international soldiers to lose their lives in Afghanistan this year, most of them in attacks, according to a toll by icasualties.org which tracks the wars here and in Iraq.

Fighting has escalated across the country in recent weeks, raising concerns about stability ahead of key presidential and provincial elections on August 20 for which Western countries have pledged thousands more troops.

Police in the eastern province of Ghazni announced that they had found the body of a candidate for the provincial polls, the second to be killed after registering to stand.

The corpse of Yahya Mawlaee Azhar was found in central Wardak province Wednesday, a week after he was kidnapped while driving home to Ghazni from a visit to Kabul, police said.

"He was killed by (Taliban fighters) since he was a candidate for a provincial council seat in the upcoming polls," Ghazni police chief Khial Baz Shairzai told AFP.

Another would-be candidate was killed last week in the eastern province of Khost by a bomb attached to his car. There were no claims of responsibility for either killing.

There are 3,324 candidates for 420 seats on 34 provincial councils.

In another attack announced Thursday, police said four farmers were killed the previous day when a bomb blew up their vehicle in the southern province of Kandahar.

"This was a new bomb planted by the enemies of Afghanistan," provincial police chief Abdullah Khan told AFP, using a term that refers to the Taliban-led insurgents.

The US military announced meanwhile that Afghan and international troops killed 24 (alleged Taliban fighters) in air strikes and gunbattles in operations against rebels in the southern province of Uruzgan on Thursday.

Fair Use Notice

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.