Four NATO soldiers were killed yesterday in the second suspected attack by Afghan police in two days, as officials detailed unprecedented damage from a Taliban assault on the base where Britain’s Prince Harry is deployed.
Afghan authorities said the shooting took place in Zabul Province, part of the restive south where the more than 10-year Taliban insurgency is traditionally strongest, but the Islamist militia denied responsibility.
The US-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) released few details other than that it was “suspected to involve members of the Afghan police.”
Ghulam Jilani, the deputy police chief in Zabul, said a police post in Mizana district came under attack, but that after NATO troops arrived to help, a policeman opened fire on the Westerners.
A senior provincial official confirmed that NATO forces came under fire, and that the Westerners returned fire, killing one policeman.
“Three to four other policemen have disappeared. At the moment, we don’t know where they have gone. We don’t know if they fled fearing arrest or if they are linked to the Taliban,” he said on condition of anonymity.
Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi said those responsible were not infiltrators.
“He was just an Afghan who did this out [of] goodwill,” he said.
Yesterday’s deaths took to 51 the number of Western soldiers killed by their Afghan colleagues since the start of the year, in a growing trend that jeopardizes NATO plans to train local forces to take over when they leave.
Two British soldiers were killed in a similar attack on Saturday in the southern province of Helmand. The British defense ministry said they were shot by a man wearing the uniform of the Afghan Local Police at a checkpoint.
This month, US special forces suspended training for about 1,000 recruits to the controversial unit, which fights in remote areas of the countryside. It has also been accused of corruption and violence toward civilians.
Afghanistan says it has arrested or sacked hundreds of Afghan soldiers for suspected insurgency links in a bid to stem the so-called insider attacks.
NATO attributes about 75 percent of the attacks to grudges, misunderstandings and cultural differences. The Afghan defense ministry this month published a brochure for the Afghan army with advice on how not to misunderstand Westerners.
The military yesterday detailed unprecedented damage from a sophisticated, well-coordinated attack on one of the largest NATO bases in the country, Camp Bastion, where Britain’s third in line to the throne is deployed.
Two US Marines were killed and several others wounded in the assault late on Friday, which was carried out by at least 15 attackers dressed in US Army uniforms and armed with guns, rockets and suicide vests.
NATO yesterday confirmed the material losses as six US AV-8B Harrier fighter jets destroyed and two significantly damaged, three coalition refueling stations destroyed and six aircraft hangars damaged.
“The insurgents appeared to be well equipped, trained and rehearsed,” ISAF said in a statement.
The militia claimed the assault was to avenge a US-made film deemed insulting to Islam that has sparked deadly riots across the Middle East and North Africa.
While the Taliban have vowed to kill Prince Harry, one of its spokesmen said that the assault “had nothing to do with the prince.”
The attack raises serious questions about how insurgents managed to penetrate such a massive logistics hub in the desert, home to 28,000 soldiers.
The military also announced the arrest of a purported Taliban leader, who it said was responsible for bringing down a helicopter that killed two US troops on Sept. 5.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not