Hundreds of US marines and Afghan forces have killed more than 40 suspected militants in the past week in an operation to take a remote mountain valley from insurgents who had inflicted the deadliest blow on US forces since the Taliban regime was ousted nearly four years ago, the US military said yesterday.
The operation, which concluded over the weekend, was aimed at rebels believed responsible for twin attacks, including the downing of a helicopter, that killed 19 US troops in late June in Korengal Valley, eastern Kunar Province.
"It was successful," Lieutenant Colonel Jerry O'Hara said. "We had over 29 separate engagements with enemy forces that resulted in over 40 enemy killed in action and many others wounded."
PHOTO: EPA
He declined to give other details of the offensive.
But O'Hara also announced that a separate three-day battle between Aug. 7 and Aug. 10 in southern Zabul Province's Daychopan district left a total of 65 suspected militants dead. The military had previously reported that 16 rebels had been killed in the fighting.
News of the casualties comes after a deadly period for US forces in Afghanistan, with 13 US troops killed this month. Four soldiers were killed on Sunday when a massive bomb exploded under a wooden bridge as a convoy of armored Humvees was crossing it. Three troops were wounded by shrapnel from secondary explosions as they tried to pull the four out of a burning Humvee.
Most of the troops who have been killed have been part of a major offensive against militants who have vowed to subvert legislative elections on Sept. 18 -- the next step toward democracy after more than two decades of war and civil strife.
A roadside bomb also exploded on Sunday near a convoy of US embassy vehicles on the outskirts of Kabul, lightly wounding two US staff members, embassy spokesman Lou Fintor said.
Some 187 US service members have been killed in and around Afghanistan since the start of Operation Enduring Freedom in late 2001 -- including 64 during a rash of insurgent attacks in the last six months, which have left about 1,000 other people dead as well.
The bloodshed has led the military to rush in an airborne infantry battalion of about 700 troops on standby in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, boosting the number of US troops in Afghanistan to about 20,000. Some 3,100 soldiers from 19 other nations also are members of the US-led coalition.
A separate NATO-led peacekeeping force has also brought in reinforcements ahead of the polls.
LANDMARK CASE: ‘Every night we were dragged to US soldiers and sexually abused. Every week we were forced to undergo venereal disease tests,’ a victim said More than 100 South Korean women who were forced to work as prostitutes for US soldiers stationed in the country have filed a landmark lawsuit accusing Washington of abuse, their lawyers said yesterday. Historians and activists say tens of thousands of South Korean women worked for state-sanctioned brothels from the 1950s to 1980s, serving US troops stationed in country to protect the South from North Korea. In 2022, South Korea’s top court ruled that the government had illegally “established, managed and operated” such brothels for the US military, ordering it to pay about 120 plaintiffs compensation. Last week, 117 victims
China on Monday announced its first ever sanctions against an individual Japanese lawmaker, targeting China-born Hei Seki for “spreading fallacies” on issues such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and disputed islands, prompting a protest from Tokyo. Beijing has an ongoing spat with Tokyo over islands in the East China Sea claimed by both countries, and considers foreign criticism on sensitive political topics to be acts of interference. Seki, a naturalised Japanese citizen, “spread false information, colluded with Japanese anti-China forces, and wantonly attacked and smeared China”, foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters on Monday. “For his own selfish interests, (Seki)
Argentine President Javier Milei on Sunday vowed to “accelerate” his libertarian reforms after a crushing defeat in Buenos Aires provincial elections. The 54-year-old economist has slashed public spending, dismissed tens of thousands of public employees and led a major deregulation drive since taking office in December 2023. He acknowledged his party’s “clear defeat” by the center-left Peronist movement in the elections to the legislature of Buenos Aires province, the country’s economic powerhouse. A deflated-sounding Milei admitted to unspecified “mistakes” which he vowed to “correct,” but said he would not be swayed “one millimeter” from his reform agenda. “We will deepen and accelerate it,” he
Japan yesterday heralded the coming-of-age of Japanese Prince Hisahito with an elaborate ceremony at the Imperial Palace, where a succession crisis is brewing. The nephew of Japanese Emperor Naruhito, Hisahito received a black silk-and-lacquer crown at the ceremony, which marks the beginning of his royal adult life. “Thank you very much for bestowing the crown today at the coming-of-age ceremony,” Hisahito said. “I will fulfill my duties, being aware of my responsibilities as an adult member of the imperial family.” Although the emperor has a daughter — Princess Aiko — the 23-year-old has been sidelined by the royal family’s male-only
RSS