5 NATO Soldiers, 9 Afghanis Killed in Attacks, October 3-4, 2010

5 NATO Soldiers, 9 Afghanis Killed in Attacks

October 3-4, 2010

Afghan attacks kill five NATO soldiers

The Daily Times, Pakistan, Tuesday, October 05, 2010

KANDAHAR:

Bombs and shootings on Monday killed five NATO soldiers and targeted two pro-government officials in Kandahar, the Taliban’s former capital in southern Afghanistan, officials said.

NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said four soldiers were killed in bomb attacks in the south and a fifth died fighting rebels in the east of the country.

It declined to release their nationalities. The new deaths took to 561 the number of foreign troops killed in the Afghan war so far in 2010, according to a tally by an independent website as the toll from the nine-year Taliban-led insurgency worsens. In Kandahar city, Deputy Mayor Noor Ahmad Nazari was shot and seriously wounded in a drive-by shooting.

“He was on his way home from the office when two armed motorcyclists opened fire on his car. He was seriously injured and taken to a hospital,” said provincial government spokesman Zalmai Ayobi. afp

4 NATO troops, Afghan policemen die in Afghanistan

By Robert Kennedy, Associated Press Writer –

Monday, October 4, 2010

KABUL, Afghanistan –

Three explosions just minutes apart rocked Kandahar on Monday night, killing up to four Afghan police officers in the nation's largest city in the south.

Three NATO service members also were killed by bombings in southern Afhanistan and an insurgent (Taliban fighters') attack killed another in the east, raising the coalition's death toll to 11 in the first four days of October. Their nationalities and details of their deaths were not disclosed.

A spokesman for the provincial governor of Kandahar, Zelmai Ayubi, said two policemen were killed and 10 other people were wounded in the explosions, which occurred near a school. Officials at Mirwais Hospital reported a higher death toll. They said four policemen died in the explosions and 17 other people were injured.

Ayubi said the first explosion targeted an Afghan police office. When police gathered to tend to the injured, two more explosions occurred, he said.

Also on Monday, NATO said a joint Afghan-coalition unit launched a night mission that killed a senior Taliban leader named Farman and two other militants in eastern Paktia province. Farman "terrorized the local population by participating in attacks, kidnappings, interrogations and executions of Afghan civilians," NATO said.

An insurgent with the Haqqani network responsible for attacking coalition and Afghan troops was captured in an operation Sunday in eastern Khost province, the alliance said. The Haqqani network is a Pakistan-based faction of the Taliban with close ties to al-Qaida.

The group was started by Jalaluddin Haqqani, a commander once supported by Pakistan and the U.S. during the 1980s war against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. Haqqani has since turned against the U.S., and American military officials have said his organization — now effectively led by his son, Sirajuddin — presents one of the greatest threats to foreign forces in Afghanistan.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi accused NATO of engaging in a propaganda campaign to demoralize the insurgents' morale by inventing Taliban leaders and alleging they were killed or captured.

"Most of the commanders' names NATO are using don't even exist," Ahmadi told The Associated Press. "This is just a game from the American side, nothing else."

In western Nimroz province Monday, a police convoy was ambushed in Khash Rod district, said provincial police chief Gen. Abdul Jabar Pardeli. Five militants were killed, three others wounded and two captured during a gunbattle. Police suffered no casualties, he said.

In other violence, a former district chief, Habibullah Aghonzada, was gunned down by assailants as he prayed at a packed mosque in Kandahar city on Monday, the governor's office said in a statement.

On Sunday, three insurgents died in an Afghan and NATO operation Sunday in Kandahar province's Arghandab district, the statement said. The raid in Khisroo village also recovered explosive material and an anti-personnel mine that were destroyed.

Afghan security forces, meanwhile, were attacked by (Taliban fighters) in Kandahar's Panjwai district on Sunday, the statement said. No casualties were sustained by either side after a firefight.

Control of Kandahar, the Taliban movement's birthplace, is seen as key to the Afghan conflict. Afghan and NATO forces are engaged in a major operation to push out militants from strongholds there.

___

Associated Press writers Rahim Faiez in Kabul and Mirwais Khan in Kandahar contributed to this report.

Five US-led troops killed in Afghanistan

Press TV, Mon Oct 4, 2010 5:35PM

Five US-led soldiers have been killed in separate incidents in Afghanistan, bringing to 561 the number of foreign troops killed in the country so far this year.

NATO's International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) says four soldiers were killed in bomb attacks in the south and a fifth died fighting militants in the east. ISAF did not give the nationalities of the soldiers or the exact location of the incidents.

Most of the troops deployed in Afghanistan are Americans and the US military has so far suffered the highest casualties in the war-ravaged country. In a separate incident, three Polish soldiers were injured in a Taliban ambush in the central Ghazni Province.

At least 561 US-led NATO troops have lost their lives in Afghanistan so far this year, making 2010 the deadliest year for NATO since the US-led invasion of the country nine years ago. Given the rising unpopularity of the war, several NATO member states are demanding an immediate withdrawal of troops.

JR/AKM/MMN

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