KABUL, Afghanistan, June 23, 2008
55 Afghan Militants Killed, Coalition Says
Battle Took Place Along Pakistan Border; Afghans Claim 2 Civilians Killed, Officials Say
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Afghan soldiers on a military vehicle are seen during a patrol in Arghandab district, an area recaptured from Taliban militants, in Kandahar province, south of Kabul, Afghanistan Sunday June 22, 2008. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq)
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A coalition statement said the battle took place on Friday in Paktika province, which borders Pakistan.
It said militants ambushed a patrol with rocket and gun fire, prompting troops to fire back and call in warplanes.
It said the 55 insurgents killed included three key leaders. It did not identify them. Another 25 militants were wounded and another three detained.
Earlier Monday, police and U.S.-led coalition forces attacked militants planting a roadside bomb just to the north of Paktika province, in Nangarhar, killing one insurgent but also two civilians, according to Afghan officials.
A coalition spokesman confirmed the incident but not the civilian casualties, and said the operation was continuing.
Zalmay Dadak, mayor of Khogyani district, said police fatally shot one suspect shortly before midnight Sunday and gave chase to the others.
A helicopter from the U.S.-led coalition fired at the militants, but also hit a house in a village, killing a man and a four-year-old boy, Dadak said.
Villagers temporarily blocked the road Monday morning to protest the civilian deaths. A delegation of tribal elders would take their complaint to the provincial governor, he said.
"The house was away from where the clash was going on. It seems it was hit by accident," Dadak said. "We are worried that this kind of thing might happen again."
Abdul Mohammed, a senior provincial police official, also said one militant and two civilians were believed dead.
Coalition spokesman 1st Lt. Nathan Perry said there was an overnight "engagement" with suspects "digging in the road." Perry said he had no reports of civilian casualties and declined to give details because the operation was not over.
Dadak said police had surrounded several suspects, but provided no more information.
Civilians are regularly killed in clashes between militants and security forces as well as bearing the brunt of insurgent suicide bombings.
Coalition and NATO commanders insist they take all reasonable precautions to avoid killing innocents. They blame militants for launching attacks from family homes. However, they face criticism for using aircraft to bomb targets in residential areas.
The Taliban's tactics have been changing - fewer direct confrontations with coalition forces and more roadside bombs, reports CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips.
Roadside blasts in four different provinces killed five coalition troops and five Afghan soldiers on Saturday.
Elsewhere, police said insurgents fired rockets toward an outpost of security forces in eastern Kunar province on Sunday, but hit a house and wounded a judge and two children.
Provincial police chief Abdul Jalal Jalal also said three trucks carrying supplies to coalition forces in Kunar were ambushed and burned Sunday.
Roadside bombs killed five more foreign troops and five government soldiers in Afghanistan during the weekend, part of a surge of violence that has made the country's battlefields deadlier for foreign forces than those in Iraq.
The U.S. administration has already highlighted the statistic to lobby its NATO allies - with limited success - to commit more forces to Afghanistan - a conflict likely to test the West's stomach for a long, grinding war.
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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"The REAL "honorable soldiers", are all of the previous commanders on the ground that were FIRED, (10 of them? 12?), FOR NOT toting the party line. - Posted by hungry1968
Generals report the facts, obtain the designated objectives and stay apolitical; or, they get replaced.
You don''t like Petreaus because the man made the surge work, in spite of your idiot pundits guessing that it wouldn''t, and it hurt Obama''s chances.
We know your type - you think to hell with the US soldier, as long as I can get Obama in office.
You don''t know what honor is hungry - and I hope you decide to eat that bullet anyway.
Posted by MikeM419 at 04:29 PM : Jun 23, 2008
And Mikey WILL eat anything and does...
Gee, I wonder why....
More likely that this was yet another wedding party, "liberated" with American bombs.
Posted by FeelFree4U at 04:34 PM : Jun 23, 2008
Hello Pork Chop, they are going to get you one of these days.
Re: "It said the 55 insurgents killed included three key leaders. It did not identify them."
Gee, I wonder why....
More likely that this was yet another wedding party, "liberated" with American bombs.
Keep up the great work Bushie, Brownie, Rummy, Condi and all the other "conservative" "ies" who have shammed this nation out of trillions of dollars and thousands of patriots who have died for NOTHING, except Bush pride.
How many times have you bad-mouthed this honorable soldier that has taken so much heat from your democratic Senators ?
So now the man has the plan, huh ?
Good to see you think for yourself (not).
McBush''s plan is still the "Korean Solution", maintaining bases as they exist in Iraq & all the GOP''s favorite contractors to maintain the bases.
- talkingham
The goal is not to kill all those that hate us - only those that decide to shoot at us. THAT 55 will make a dent. Haven''t you noticed the slow down in folks willing to blow themselves up ?
Contrary to what you prefer to believe, not all Muslims want to kill themselves to help OBL.
And what problem would you have with them wanting to be targets anyway ? This has this become JUST a political issue for you hasn''t it. You don''t give a flip if we are safe of not. Just get Obama in power.
Freak of nature.
- by talkingham June 23, 2008 1:01 PM EDT
- I''m sure 55 militants killed will make a huge dent in the millions of radical Islamics who hate our guts.
- Reply to this comment
See all 18 CommentsI''d like to see a dollars per militant killed figure since I''m helping to pay for this load of sht.