Multiple Tragedies Strike Afghanistan
Tragedy struck Afghanistan when a roadside bomb exploded killing four American soldiers. Two NATO troops were also killed in a different part of the country and a battle has struck in the country’s heartland killing more than 50 suspected militants. Meanwhile, a purported Taliban spokesman said the hard-line militia has extended until Tuesday its deadline on the fate of 23 South Korean hostages who were seized last week.
The bombing targeted U.S. soldiers conducting a combat patrol in the eastern province of Paktika, Gov. Mohammad Ekram Akhpelwak said. Norway said one if its soldiers was killed in central Logar province, and NATO said a sixth soldier was killed in the south, though the soldier’s nationality was not made public. The six deaths bring to 114 the number of Western soldiers killed in Afghanistan this year, including 54 Americans, according to an Associated Press count.
Coalition aircraft dropped four bombs during the engagement, and Afghan forces counted “more than four dozen” insurgents killed, it said. The Sangin district chief, Eizatullah Khan, said a big group of Taliban had attacked a convoy of vehicles Sunday. He said the battle left more than 30 Taliban dead and many wounded.
Coalition and Afghan forces “only engaged legitimate military and enemy targets to minimize the potential of Afghan casualties,” said U.S. Maj. Chris Belcher, a coalition spokesman. “We did this even as the insurgents tried to create some propaganda value by placing innocent civilians in harms way.”
Civilian casualties has been a major problem for U.S. and NATO forces this year. Taliban militants often fight in populated areas or seek cover in civilian homes, leading to the deaths of ordinary Afghans. There were no immediate reports of civilian casualties during the battle, but those reports sometimes take a day or two to surface.