KABUL, Afghanistan, June 28, 2008

32 Militants Killed In Afghan Violence

Coalition Troops Fought Gunbattles, Called In Airstrikes Against Insurgents

  • A bombed-out vehicle lies wrecked outside a temporary wall at Sarposa prison in Kandahar, Afghanistan, Thursday, June 26, 2008, after a deadly prison assault two weeks ago that freed some 400 Taliban fighters.

    A bombed-out vehicle lies wrecked outside a temporary wall at Sarposa prison in Kandahar, Afghanistan, Thursday, June 26, 2008, after a deadly prison assault two weeks ago that freed some 400 Taliban fighters.  (AP Photo/The Canadian Press)

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(AP)  Troops fought gunbattles and called in airstrikes against insurgents in southern Afghanistan, killing 32 militants, the U.S.-led coalition said.

Attacks elsewhere killed five workers for a construction company and a police officer, while a British soldier died when his vehicle overturned.

The major battle began when militants armed with guns and rockets attacked Afghan and coalition troops as their patrol passed through a "heavily vegetated area" in Uruzgan province on Thursday, a coalition statement said Saturday.

The troops returned fire and called in airstrikes which killed three rebels, it said.

When militants attacked the patrol again shortly after the airstrikes, the troops "defeated the attack, killing 29 insurgents," the coalition said. A 10-year-old Afghan child and two Afghan policemen were wounded.

It was not possible to verify the military's account of the fighting, which took place in the remote Khas Uruzgan district.

The struggle between security forces and Islamic militants is intensifying across the southern half of Afghanistan, illustrating the limited success of the nearly seven-year effort to stabilize the country.

The U.S. Defense Department forecast in a report released Friday that the Taliban movement will "maintain or even increase the scope and pace of its terrorist attacks and bombings in 2008."

Last year, more than 8,000 people were killed in insurgency-related attacks in Afghanistan - the most since a U.S. bombing campaign drove the fundamentalist militia from power in 2001.

Violence has claimed more than 2,000 lives so far this year, according to an Associated Press tally. More than one-quarter of the deaths were in June.

In other incidents reported Saturday, police said gunmen attacked a convoy of trucks and cars belonging to a construction company in the eastern province of Khost on Friday, killing five people and wounding two.

In the south, police said a roadside bomb killed one officer and injured two on Saturday near the border town of Spin Boldak.

The coalition reported another roadside bomb attack Saturday in Wardak, the province just south of Kabul. It said initial reports showed none of its members were killed, but gave no details.

Three coalition troops and their Afghan interpreter died in a similar blast in the same area on Thursday.

Britain's Defense Ministry said one of its soldiers was killed and two others injured when their patrol vehicle overturned in Afghanistan late Friday.

The death brought the number of foreign troops killed in Afghanistan this year to 116.



© MMVIII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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by latrocinor-2009 June 29, 2008 5:34 PM EDT
To tell the truth, I don''''t expect you to understand, libhater1. The people who organized 9/11 knew that people such as you (i.e. rather slow) would bring their plan to fruition.

Posted by anon00
.........................................

And just who are the people who organized 9/11?
Reply to this comment
by latrocinor-2009 June 29, 2008 5:29 PM EDT
"32 Militants Killed In Afghan Violence
Coalition Troops Fought Gunbattles, Called In Airstrikes Against Insurgents"

I wonder if this is the usual, "Count all bodies - men, women, children, elderly, handicapped, etc - that died in the bombing, and then label ALL of them as "insurgents" or "terrorists"."

Posted by hungry1968
...............................................

I think the word "militant" means the person was doing military things, not day care or weddings.
Reply to this comment
by floydzeppl June 29, 2008 2:33 PM EDT
yet another invented body count. Vietnam all over again.
Reply to this comment
by hungry1968 June 29, 2008 12:51 PM EDT
"32 Militants Killed In Afghan Violence
Coalition Troops Fought Gunbattles, Called In Airstrikes Against Insurgents"




I wonder if this is the usual, "Count all bodies - men, women, children, elderly, handicapped, etc - that died in the bombing, and then label ALL of them as "insurgents" or "terrorists"."
Reply to this comment
by inventagod2 June 29, 2008 12:44 PM EDT
6/26/08

''I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, find that the current existence and risk of the proliferation of weapons-usable fissile material on the Korean Peninsula constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States, and I hereby declare a ''national emergency'' to deal with that threat.''

What''s Dubya up to this time???
Reply to this comment
by petro49l June 29, 2008 11:12 AM EDT
Bin Laden sacrificed more Taliban to Coalition guns. How many goats will be led to this slaughter? Osama believes he is divine and majestic. Taliban are making a useless statement with martyrdom. They should realize that Bin Laden''s vanity is the real enemy.
Reply to this comment
by libhater1 June 29, 2008 8:21 AM EDT
anon00- If people with missing limbs attacked my country, then yes I would have to hate them.
And please dont sit here and preach to me about what happen after WWII because I could really care less. These militant f*cks and the people that supported them attacked my country. And before that they were blowing up US interests all over the d@mn world. So spare me. I hope and pray we kill thousands of them for all the *** they have done to our country and our people. I hope we kill thousands!!!!!
Reply to this comment
by libhater1 June 29, 2008 7:36 AM EDT
32 less dirt bags in the world. Good job troops. Keep up the good work!!
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