Taliban militants fired rockets and mortars at a US base in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, killing two US troops in a fierce battle as thousands of Marines in the south continued with their massive anti-Taliban push.
The multi-pronged attack in eastern Paktika Province — where a US soldier was captured this week — included a truck bombing near the camp’s gates.
The battle ended only after US forces called in air strikes on militants.
PHOTO: REUTERS
The battle near the Pakistan border is hundreds of kilometers from the massive Marine assault in southern Helmand Province. It underscores the militants’ ability to inflict casualties on the over-stretched US forces as they widen their battle against the Taliban, who have made a violent comeback following their initial defeat in the US-led 2001 invasion.
Responding to the deteriorating security situation, US President Barack Obama’s administration has ordered 21,000 additional troops to Afghanistan and expects the total number of US forces there to reach 68,000 by the end of the year. That is double the number of troops in Afghanistan last year, but still half as many as are now in Iraq.
As part of the new strategy, 4,000 Marines poured into volatile Helmand Province on Thursday in the biggest US military operation in Afghanistan since 2001, trying to cut insurgent supply lines and win over local elders.
More than 30 insurgents were killed in the battle in Zerok district of Paktika Province on Saturday, said Hamidullah Zawak, the provincial governor’s spokesman.
Seven American and two Afghan troops were wounded, a US military spokesman said.
Attack helicopters, air strikes and fire from US troops killed at least 10 militants, a statement from the NATO-led force under which the US troops are fighting said.
Troops detained one militant, it said.
The discrepancy in the militant death tolls could not immediately be reconciled.
During the battle, an insurgent drove a truck filled with explosives and gravel toward the gates of the US base, Zawak said.
When the driver did not heed warnings to stop, troops opened fire on the truck, which exploded, he said.
The blast happened as rocket and mortar fire peppered the base, killing two US troops and wounding seven others, said Specialist April Campbell, a US military spokeswoman.
The clash lasted for two hours before US-called air strikes ended the fight, Zawak said.
Two Afghan soldiers were also wounded. The base housed both US and Afghan soldiers.
Zabiullah Mujaheed, a Taliban spokesman, claimed responsibility for the attack. After the blast, some 100 Taliban fighters fired at coalition troops for several hours, briefly taking over two of their checkpoints, Mujaheed said.
Campbell denied the Taliban ever took over any checkpoints.
Zawak said that 32 insurgents were killed in the air strikes and that authorities have already recovered 16 bodies. Mujaheed said five insurgents were killed and three were wounded.
It is impossible to independently verify Zawak’s and Mujaheed’s claims because the base is in a remote area.
In southern Afghanistan, meanwhile, a roadside bomb killed seven policemen in Kandahar Province on Saturday, the Interior Ministry statement said.
Another two Afghan soldiers died in a separate blast in Helmand Province’s Musa Qala district also on Saturday, the Defense Ministry said.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in