Blast Kills 10 Afghans In Helmand Province

Police Say Suicide Bomber Targeted Foreign Troops; Taliban Cleared From Kandahar Area

(CBS/AP)  Police said Friday that a suicide bomber had killed 10 civilians in southern Afghanistan.

The police chief in Helmand province said the attacker detonated his explosives Friday morning as a convoy of foreign troops passed through the town of Gereshk.

The chief says 10 civilians were killed, including two shopkeepers. He doesn't know whether any of the troops were hurt. Most of the NATO soldiers in Helmand are British.

On Thursday, Afghan and NATO troops backed by warplanes drove Taliban militants from villages within striking distance of southern Afghanistan's main city, killing 56 of them, Afghan officials said.

NATO said the 24-hour operation in Arghandab was a swift success that banished any threat to Kandahar and would help reassure Afghans appalled at the embarrassing mass escape of Taliban prisoners from a city jail last week.

Hundreds of families who fled the lush, orchard-strewn valley, which begins just 10 miles from the city, were told they could safely return, the alliance said.

But the declaration of victory was tempered by concern that Afghan officials had unwittingly helped the militants score a propaganda coup by exaggerating the threat they posed.

"No large formation of insurgents were met or spotted. Only minor incidents occurred," alliance spokesman Brig. Gen. Carlos Branco said at a news conference. "The insurgents who were there were evidently not in the numbers or with the foothold that they have claimed."

NATO declined to provide a militant casualty figure and told villagers they could return.

"There is no crisis," Branco said.

Afghan officials had said some 400 insurgents swept into Arghandab on Monday and seized 10 villages and encouraged residents to leave. The area, with good cover against air strikes, is considered a possible launch pad for an attack on Kandahar.

The specter of the Islamic militia retaking the city that served as its capital before U.S.-led forces ousted it in 2001 refocused attention on the militants' resurgence in the intervening six years, despite billions of dollars in aid and the presence of tens of thousands of foreign troops.

The U.S.-led coalition said two of its soldiers died of gunshot wounds and one was wounded in neighboring Helmand province on Thursday evening. It didn't give their nationalities.

On Friday, the province's police chief Mohammad Hussein Andiwal said a suicide bomber detonated his explosives as a convoy of foreign troops passed. Ten civilians were killed, he said, but he did not know if there were any troop casualties. NATO said it had no information about the incident.

NATO officials have sought to play down the threat in Arghandab, but sent 600 British and Canadian troops to support Afghan soldiers, many of whom had been rushed in by air from the capital, Kabul, for the operation.

After 24 hours, Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi, spokesman for the Defense Ministry, said the Afghan National Army had taken back the villages. Asked at the news conference with Branco why only 56 militants were killed, he said others may have fled northward under cover of darkness.

He also said the militants planted hundreds of mines "just like in Soviet times" - a reference to the 1980s, when occupying Soviet troops laid large numbers of mines which have since caused thousands of civilian casualties.

NATO and Afghan officials said ground troops were moving methodically through the area on the east bank of the Arghandab River, wary of bombs and keen to avoid civilian casualties.

Mark Laity, another NATO spokesman, said the alliance launched a "limited number" of air strikes overnight. He said no NATO troops were hurt and that the situation on Thursday evening was quiet, but military operations would continue in Arghandab "for a little while yet."

Syed Mohammed, a resident who sent two dozen relatives to Kandahar but stayed behind in the village of Thabien, said gunfights had raged until about 2 a.m.

When he looked out his gate at dawn Thursday, Afghan soldiers shooed him back inside, but not before he saw about a half-dozen bodies - apparently dead militants - in the back of a truck.

"The soldiers were everywhere, even in my pomegranate orchard," Mohammed told The Associated Press by telephone. "They told me to stay home for my own security and because of the mines."

Earlier in the week, he had seen 30 to 40 militants armed with assault rifles and rockets ride through the village on motorbikes, he said.

Azimi said two Afghan soldiers were killed and two more wounded in the operation. Kandahar Gov. Asadullah Khalid said one civilian was killed by gunfire. He also claimed that "hundreds" of militants had been killed or wounded, but didn't elaborate.

An Associated Press reporter on the roof of a shrine overlooking the Arghandab River and the contested area saw Afghan and Canadian troops moving in convoys but no sign of combat, or of any villagers returning.

President Hamid Karzai ordered officials to assist the displaced families, clear any mines and help them return quickly.

Branco said the displaced villagers were staying with friends and relatives in the region and there was "no humanitarian crisis."

Meanwhile, the Taliban announced on a Web site that several suicide bombers had entered Kandahar to attack Canadian and Afghan troops and government officials, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, an organization that monitors militant Web sites.

Branco said police dismantled several bombs in the city Wednesday thanks to tips and Kandahar was "firmly under the control of the Afghan government and its people."

Confidence in that control was badly shaken June 13 when a bold Taliban attack, including two suicide bombings, on the Kandahar prison freed 900 inmates, including 400 Taliban fighters.

Laity said the Taliban were exaggerating, using "words as weapons" to stir panic.

He said the response in Arghandab should allay the fears of Afghans, many of whom doubt Afghan and NATO forces can defeat the insurgency any time soon.

"We know that after recent events like the jailbreak there is concern about our capabilities. This was a fast and very effective response and I think something that all Afghans can take great heart from," he said.

[dobbershome]

The middle east needs to be vaporized. Long live the Queen mate.

[dobbershome]

I''m glad I don''t live in the hell hole called the middle east. The middle east is nothing more than a sess pool of murderous zEalots.

[petro49l]

How many Taliban will be a murdered by Bin Laden? Taliban Women are for sexual rape and Taliban Men for massacre on the battlefield. Osama should erect an altar to himself for human sacrifices. Bin Laden has done everything but drink their blood from a chalice.

[jboxton]

Hmmmm...normally Muslims are peaceful, non-violent people intent on doing good things. I hope you get the sarcastic tone of that statement. Just deport them all and wipe them out. Islam is a violent religion that doesn''t believe in peace. A quote from the Quran:

"Heads should be taken from those who see differently than you...."-page 149

Very peaceful

[petro49l]

Taliban give their lives to protect Waziristan. What for? Bin Laden gloats every time one is sacrificed in his name. Waziristan is rich and fertile for the production of commercial poppies and cannabis. The orchards could fill with ripe fruit, berries, and nuts. Bin Laden is a craven homosexual who deprives Taliban of their heritage. Why not remove him and retake the ground?

[downsteamjim]

10 dead innocent civilians: Allah will be happy!

[petro49l]

Taliban were cut to pieces and lie strewn across the ground. Bin Laden sees them as a blood sacrifice to his divine being and authority. There is no reason to obey his order to commit suicide. Bin Laden is infatuated with his own philosophy, theology, and political opinion. Taliban should reject him and accept the future, instead.

[terrorislami]

ARE YOU PART OF THE HUSSEIN RACIST HATE AMERICA CLUB???

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=obama+william ayers
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=obama bernardine dohrn
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=obama rev jeremiah wright&btnG=Search
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=obama rev michael pfleger
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=obama louis farrakhan
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=obama hezbollah
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=obama hamas
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=obama radical islam
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=obama mahmud ahmadinejad
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=obama marxism
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=obama fidel castro
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=obama hugo chavez
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=black liberation theology&btnG=Search
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=black value system

DEMOCRATS FOR MCCAIN,,,

HUSSEIN IS GOING DOWN,,,

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=democrats for mccain

HUSSEIN IS LYING TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE

HUSSEIN LOVES RADICALS THAT HATE AMERICA,,, LIKE HE DOES

[terrorislami]

PATTON

General Bradley:
Have you seen the casualty lists?

Patton:
Yes, I''ve seen them.

General Bradley. . .

. . .it''''s time to consider how many
casualties we''d have. . .

. . .if we were still crawling on
that ******* road.

it is time to consider how much more it will cost if we do not defeat fascist nazi terrorislam,,,

[petro49l]

Taliban are fighting and dying every day for a craven homosexual, Osama Bin Laden who presents himself as a god. Their blood is a sacrifice to his divinity. Afghanistan and Pakistan prosper. Real fate is not martyrdom, but in the future of the region. Bumper crops and international finance promise high standard of living for the people. There is no reason to throw it away on a false prophet.

[terrorislami]

HUSSEIN IS SOFT ON FASCIST NAZI TERRORISLAMIST JIHADISTS,,,

HELL HIS KENYAN FAMILY AND TRIBE ARE FASCIST NAZI TERRORISLAMIST JIHADISTS,,,

will hussein stop his radical muslim luo tribe relatives from slaughtering non-muslims???

apparently not,,,

U.S. Troops to African "hotspot"?

Obama Jr. Says ''Not Yet''

http://www.usvetdsp.com/jan08/obama_lou%20tribe.htm

Just one day before the Jan. 3, 2008 Iowa caucus, Sen. Barack Hussein Obama Jr. (D-Ill.), who is aiming to be America''s first African-American president, found himself taping a message from Iowa to Kenya for broadcast on the Voice of America.

Kenya, the homeland Obama Jr''s family''s Luo tribe, burst into post-election violence after Raila Odinga, a fiery Luo tribe opposition leader and Kenya presidential candidate, alleged the Dec. 27 voting that re-elected President Mwai Kibaki of the Kikuyu tribe was rigged

More than 360 people were killed and over 250,000 displaced provoking a humanitarian crisis in a country previously considered a stable pillar in east Africa.

[terrorislami]

HUSSEIN IS SOFT ON FASCIST NAZI TERRORISLAMIST JIHADISTS,,,

HELL HIS KENYAN FAMILY AND TRIBE ARE FASCIST NAZI TERRORISLAMIST JIHADISTS,,,

Obama''s Cousin Charged With Ethnic Cleansing
http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2008/01/great-obamas-cousin-charged-with-ethnic.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7192958.stm

Obama''s relative linked to Ethnic Cleansing in Kenya
http://libertarianrepublican.blogspot.com/2008/02/obamas-relative-linked-to-ethnic.html

Signs in Kenya That Killings Were Planned
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1957451/posts

Ten Obvious Reasons Why Islam is NOT a Religion of Peace
http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/Pages/Top-10-Reasons.htm

Kenya Muslim Violence Pictorial *Warning Graphic*

Africa, Kenya, Muslims%u2026nothing more needs to be said%u2026
http://patdollard.com/2008/01/kenya-muslim-violence-pictorial-warning-graphic/

The Kenyan jihad
http://www.spectator.co.uk/melaniephillips/433766/the-kenyan-jihad.thtml

nothing new,,, more radical muslims ethnically cleansing non-muslims

19 Burned to Death in Violence in Kenya
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1960644/posts

[terrorislami]

HUSSEIN IS SOFT ON FASCIST NAZI TERRORISLAMIST JIHADISTS,,,

HELL HIS KENYAN FAMILY AND TRIBE ARE FASCIST NAZI TERRORISLAMIST JIHADISTS,,,

Obama Sides With Radical Islamists

The magnitude of difference between the two candidates running in our presidential election could not be more stark! After reading the statements of both Obama and McCain regarding the horrible Supreme Court 5-4 decision to allow Gitmo detainees the right to be tried in civilian courts, we can clearly see what a flawed, unfortunate, and terrible direction Obama would take this country if [God forbid!!]elected in November.

Obama''s statement:

Barack Obama statement on the Supreme Court''s 5-4 decision today extending civilian legal protections to terrorist suspects held in Guantanamo Bay:

Um...er...earth to Obama? Foreign terrorists caught in battle against our forces during war have never been eligible for "habeas corpus"! They are not covered by the Constitution of the United States of America. So...what "rule of law" are you referring to?
http://talkwisdom.blogspot.com/2008/06/obama-sides-with-radical-islamists.html

[dobbershome]

More peace and tranquility from Afganistan.