Taliban attacks kill 9 in Afghanistan

Sun Jun 7, 2009, 7:37 am ET

KABUL –

A Taliban fighters' ambush in northwestern Afghanistan killed four policemen early Sunday, while Taliban fighters killed five other people at the eastern border near Pakistan, officials said.

Taliban fighters attacked a police security post in northwestern Faryab province, sparking a one-hour battle that killed four police, said Khalil Andrabi, the provincial police chief.

A second Taliban attack in the eastern province of Paktika killed the police chief in Sarhawza district, while Taliban fighters elsewhere in Paktika ambushed a truck of private security guards, killing four of them, said Hamidullah Zhwak, a spokesman for the governor.

Taliban fighters have stepped attacks in Afghanistan. President Barack Obama is sending 21,000 additional troops this year to help increase security in regions where the Afghan government has little control.

7,000 Marines Join Fight In Afghanistan

Troops From Camp Lejeune Are 1st Wave Of Obama's "Surge", To Total 21,000 This Summer

CAMP LEATHERHEAD, Afghanistan, June 8, 2009

 (AP / CBS)

 Some 7,000 new U.S. troops ordered to Afghanistan by President Obama are fanning out across the country's dangerous south on a mission to defeat an increasingly violent Taliban insurgency. Marine spokesman 1st Lt. Abe Sipe says 7,000 troops from the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade are now in the country. The brigade is based at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.

The Marines represent the first wave of 21,000 troops ordered to Afghanistan this summer. Most of the buildup will take place in Helmand and Kandahar. The two southern provinces lie at the heart of the insurgency and are close to the border with Pakistan, where the Taliban's top leadership is believed to be based.

Two German soldiers wounded in Afghanistan clash

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 06:29:36 GMT

Author : DPA

Kabul -

Two German soldiers serving under the command of NATO-led international military forces were wounded when their convoy was attacked by Taliban fighters in northern Afghanistan, officials said Monday. The attack took place Sunday at 11:30 am (0700 GMT) in Chardara district of the northern province of Kunduz when a German military vehicle was blown up by a roadside mine in Qasaaba village, Abdul Wahid Omarkhel, district administrative chief said.

The Taliban fighters then attacked the military convoy with small arms fire, he said, adding two military tanks were destroyed in the attack and one Taliban fighter was killed in the exchange of gunfire.

Omarkhel did not say if there were any casualties among the troops, but the German Defence Ministry in Berlin said that two of its soldiers were wounded in the attack.

The soldiers received initial treatment in Afghanistan before being flown to Germany, the German military said. The gunshot wounds of one soldier were serious, but the man was in a stable condition, they added. His comrade only suffered light injuries.

Speaking by phone from an undisclosed location, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said that their fighters conducted the ambush and claimed that eight German soldiers were killed and two military tanks destroyed.

Unlike other provinces in the relatively peaceful northern region, Kunduz has seen a series of Taliban-led attacks in the past months. The Taliban fighters have vowed to expand their battlegrounds from eastern and southern regions to country north and west.

The Taliban fighters are mostly entrenched in Chardara district of the province, where Afghan and German forces have come under attacks by the insurgents several times in the past.

Around 3,800 German soldiers are stationed in northern region as part of over 60,000-strong NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in war-torn Afghanistan. Copyright, respective author or news agency .

Battles, ambushes kill around 30 in Afghanistan

Sun Jun 7, 2009, 9:26 am ET

KABUL –

A joint Afghan and U.S.-led coalition operation against Taliban fighters in southern Afghanistan killed more than 20 Taliban fighters Sunday, while a Taliban fighters' ambush in the northwest killed four policemen, officials said.

The joint operation in Zabul province included ground forces and airstrikes. The battle killed more than 20 (alleged) Taliban fighters, said provincial police chief Abdul Rahman Sarjung. After the operation, a roadside bomb exploded and killed one Afghan policeman as the forces were returning to base, he said.

Elsewhere, Taliban fighters attacked a police security post in northwestern Faryab province, sparking a one-hour battle that killed four police, said Khalil Andrabi, the provincial police chief.

Another Taliban attack in the eastern province of Paktika killed the police chief in Sarhawza district, while Taliban fighters elsewhere in Paktika ambushed a truck of private security guards, killing four of them, said Hamidullah Zhwak, a spokesman for the governor.

Taliban fighters have stepped attacks in the last several years and now control many rural areas in Afghanistan. President Barack Obama is sending 21,000 additional troops this year to help increase security in regions where the Afghan government has little control.