Afghan and international authorities said on Saturday that about 30 insurgents had been killed in new clashes in militant hotspots as a district police chief and his guard died in a bombing.
Nineteen rebels were killed in operations on Friday and earlier on Saturday in the northeastern province of Kunar, the US military said.
The operation was in the same area where militants stormed a military outpost early on Friday in an attack that the NATO-led force said killed three US and two Latvian soldiers dead as well as four Afghan troops and an interpreter.
The military did not make it clear if the clash with insurgents was linked to the attack on the base, which was the deadliest incident for foreign troops in about eight months.
An Afghan-led force was conducting a patrol in an “area of known militant presence” when they were attacked by armed insurgents, a US military statement said.
The troops returned fire and called for close-air support, killing 19 militants, it said.
An Afghan official had said earlier that troop reinforcements were deployed to the area to hunt down the men involved in the attack on the base.
“We have sent reinforcements to the area. We are searching for the attackers,” defense ministry spokesman General Mohammad Zahir Azimi said.
It was the highest toll for foreign soldiers in a single incident in Afghanistan since an Aug. 18 attack on French troops left 10 of them dead and 21 wounded.
In other incidents reported Saturday, the US military said its forces working with Afghan troops had killed five militants on Friday in the southern province of Helmand, a stronghold of the al-Qaeda-linked Taliban militia.
Six to seven more fighters were killed overnight in the adjoining province of Kandahar, provincial police intelligence chief Abdullah Khan said.
They had been traveling in a pick-up vehicle and were targeted by an air strike, he said.
The defense ministry said separately that its men had killed one “terrorist” on Friday in Paktika Province.
None of the incidents or tolls could be independently confirmed.
The interior ministry reported meanwhile that the police chief of Farsi district in Herat Province was killed, along with a bodyguard, early on Saturday when a bomb blew up their vehicle.
It blamed the attack, in which six policemen were also wounded, on insurgents.
Attacks and clashes linked to a Taliban-led insurgency have picked up in recent weeks and the militants warned days ago that they would launch a new operation against the Afghan forces and the international troops helping them.
EUROPEAN FUTURE? Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama says only he could secure EU membership, but challenges remain in dealing with corruption and a brain drain Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama seeks to win an unprecedented fourth term, pledging to finally take the country into the EU and turn it into a hot tourist destination with some help from the Trump family. The artist-turned-politician has been pitching Albania as a trendy coastal destination, which has helped to drive up tourism arrivals to a record 11 million last year. US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also joined in the rush, pledging to invest US$1.4 billion to turn a largely deserted island into a luxurious getaway. Rama is expected to win another term after yesterday’s vote. The vote would
FRAUD ALLEGED: The leader of an opposition alliance made allegations of electoral irregularities and called for a protest in Tirana as European leaders are to meet Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama’s Socialist Party scored a large victory in parliamentary elections, securing him his fourth term, official results showed late on Tuesday. The Socialist Party won 52.1 percent of the vote on Sunday compared with 34.2 percent for an alliance of opposition parties led by his main rival Sali Berisha, according to results released by the Albanian Central Election Commission. Diaspora votes have yet to be counted, but according to initial results, Rama was also leading there. According to projections, the Socialist Party could have more lawmakers than in 2021 elections. At the time, it won 74 seats in the
CANCER: Jose Mujica earned the moniker ‘world’s poorest president’ for giving away much of his salary and living a simple life on his farm, with his wife and dog Tributes poured in on Tuesday from across Latin America following the death of former Uruguayan president Jose “Pepe” Mujica, an ex-guerrilla fighter revered by the left for his humility and progressive politics. He was 89. Mujica, who spent a dozen years behind bars for revolutionary activity, lost his battle against cancer after announcing in January that the disease had spread and he would stop treatment. “With deep sorrow, we announce the passing of our comrade Pepe Mujica. President, activist, guide and leader. We will miss you greatly, old friend,” Uruguayan President Yamandu Orsi wrote on X. “Pepe, eternal,” a cyclist shouted out minutes later,
Myanmar’s junta chief met Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) for the first time since seizing power, state media reported yesterday, the highest-level meeting with a key ally for the internationally sanctioned military leader. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing led a military coup in 2021, overthrowing Myanmar’s brief experiment with democracy and plunging the nation into civil war. In the four years since, his armed forces have battled dozens of ethnic armed groups and rebel militias — some with close links to China — opposed to its rule. The conflict has seen Min Aung Hlaing draw condemnation from rights groups and pursued by the
RSS