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| Afghanistan |
| US says it killed more than 130 Taliban |
| 2007-04-30 |
| US-led coalition troops killed more than 130 Taliban fighters in Afghanistan over the past several days, the coalition said on Monday, but thousands of Afghans staged a protest saying the victims were civilians. Backed by air support, the Taliban were killed in two separate battles in the western province of Herat, the US military said in a statement. The deaths triggered an angry protest - the second in the country in two days - over what local villagers say was the killing of civilians. Herat, bordering Iran, had been relatively safe until recently compared with the south and east, where the Taliban are most active. Both battles were in the Zerkoh valley, south of Shindand district, where Western troops have a large base, and running into Farah province further south. A total of 87 Taliban fighters were killed during a 14-hour battle with US-led troops and Afghan forces on Sunday. Another 49 Taliban, including two of their leaders, were killed two days earlier after a group of Taliban fired at a joint coalition and Afghan patrol in another part of the valley. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #17 That one Army soldier took a very nice honour guard to wait on him in Heaven... all of whom are no doubt still in shock at the patent lack of virgins or any other of the promised delights for jihadis in the decidedly non-Muslim afterlife. Rest in peace, Soldier, with our thanks. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-04-30 22:20 |
| #16 MORE ON THIS BATTLE U.S. Special Forces soldiers, accompanied by Afghan National Police and other coalition members, identified and engaged several Taliban fighting positions 37 miles south of Shindand, in Herat province, while conducting a reconnaissance patrol yesterday. After gaining intelligence describing Taliban activity in the Zerkoh Valley, coalition and Afghan National Police forces maneuvered into positions to pinpoint and attack the Taliban fighters. Once in position, coalition and Afghan National Police forces initiated the attack on the enemy positions with mortars, small arms and rocket propelled grenades. A few hours later, additional coalition and Afghan National Army reinforcements arrived. A coalition aircraft was requested and dropped multiple munitions on several identified enemy locations. As Taliban fighters attempted to flee, an AC-130 gunship engaged and killed 26 enemy fighters on both sides of the river valley. A total of seven enemy positions were destroyed, and 87 Taliban fighters were killed during the 14-hour engagement. Forty-eight hours earlier and under the cover of darkness, U.S. Special Forces and Afghan National Police patrolling near the village of Parmakan, in the Zerkoh Valley, received small-arms and rocket-propelled-grenade fire from more than 70 Taliban fighters. During the engagement, 49 Taliban fighters, including two local Taliban leaders, were killed by a combination of small-arms fire and close-air support. As was previously reported on April 27, one U.S. Army soldier was killed in the engagement. And I am sitting here smiling. I [heart] our new policy that we are there to "kill the enemy" and we are very, very good at implementing the new policy. |
| Posted by: Brett 2007-04-30 22:04 |
| #15 Talicide |
| Posted by: macofromoc 2007-04-30 16:18 |
| #14 Anyone who runs is a VC. Anyone who doesn't run is a well disciplined VC... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2007-04-30 14:56 |
| #13 Let's recall a couple of points. Just last week command was discussing Iranian weapons being found in Afghanistan. Those would have been "imported" via Herat Province. Herat is also the center of a serious "reconstruction" effort funded by the Iranians. This is not about the Talibs. It's purely about Iran. |
| Posted by: Chuck Simmins 2007-04-30 14:52 |
| #12 but thousands of Afghans staged a protest saying the victims were civilians Sounds like terrorist sympathizers to me. |
| Posted by: anymouse 2007-04-30 12:44 |
| #11 They are called civilians because they don't have decent uniforms. They wear some stinking rags instead. |
| Posted by: trenchsol 2007-04-30 12:25 |
| #10 Is this Reuters version the same engagement are reported by Centcom here ? Every precaution was taken to prevent injury to innocent Afghan civilians during the two battles, and there were no civilian injuries reported. So then the protesters were ... Taliban? |
| Posted by: Bobby 2007-04-30 12:23 |
| #9 The deaths triggered an angry protest Tough. You jerks wanted the Talibunnies, you get everything that come with 'em... |
| Posted by: mojo 2007-04-30 12:16 |
| #8 They're Brave Lions of Islam until they get whacked and then they become civilians. |
| Posted by: treo 2007-04-30 10:22 |
| #7 No Fair. How can they start the Spring Offensive when we're killing so many? |
| Posted by: danking_70 2007-04-30 10:06 |
| #6 I know what I call it. A good start. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2007-04-30 10:05 |
| #5 but thousands of Afghans staged a protest saying the victims were civilians. And these rabble were featured in my morning paper. Never a better target for a daisy cutter has ever existed than these taliban fellow-travelers and the traitor propagandist photographers. |
| Posted by: Excalibur 2007-04-30 09:51 |
| #4 Good shooting. So are these carbon neutral Pakistani taliban or Iranian stooges? I ask because Iran is repatriating a lot of Afghan refugees and I'm sure they have indoctrinated as many as they can. |
| Posted by: ed 2007-04-30 09:19 |
| #3 Paragraphs we wish we read; Five hundred people came out to protest, but air strikes reduced their numbers to less than a dozen. |
| Posted by: wxjames 2007-04-30 09:12 |
| #2 There are also the categories of spies and traitors. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2007-04-30 09:09 |
| #1 A civilian holding a weapon is no longer a civilian. |
| Posted by: gromky 2007-04-30 09:06 |