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| Afghanistan/South Asia |
| Snipers get lucky |
| 2004-03-06 |
| US and Afghan troops killed nine suspected Islamic militants during a gunbattle in the eastern province of Paktika, the US military said yesterday. Well done! Captured? In separate operations, 14 suspected rebels were detained in a US air assault in the east and two senior Taliban commanders were captured by Afghan forces after an attack on a post near the Pakistan border killed seven government soldiers. Busy day in eastern Afghanistan. The clash involving US forces began when they opened fire on a group of 30 to 40 armed men trying to move to the side of their sniper position east of Orgun-E, 170km south of Kabul, in order to launch an attack. Excellent choice for sniper position. "They were armed, they were acting in a hostile manner, so we fired on them and then we pursued them with the Afghan National Army," said US military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Bryan Hilferty in Kabul. "We believe they will no longer act in a hostile manner," said Hilferty. At least 10 US snipers from a special operations task force in Afghanistan were involved in the battle, supported by a nearby battalion of Afghan troops. The rest of the group of suspected guerillas fled. None captured? Say it ain’t so! Didn’t think so. The clash was one of the largest reported in recent months between 13,000 US-led troops in Afghanistan and their local allies and Islamic militants from groups including the ousted Taliban militia and Al Qaeda |
| Posted by:Mr. Davis |