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| India-Pakistan |
| Roadside bomb in Pakistan kills 3 U.S. soldiers |
| 2010-02-04 |
| The deaths of three American soldiers in a roadside bombing Wednesday drew unwanted attention to a U.S. program of training local forces to fight the Taliban and al-Qaeda – a mission that is little-publicized because of opposition here to U.S. troops on Pakistani soil. The killings were the first known U.S. military fatalities in nearly three years in Pakistan's Afghan border region, where militants are being pummeled by U.S. missile strikes and struggling to regroup after the loss of a key stronghold in a recent Pakistani army offensive. The blast also killed three girls at a nearby school and a Pakistani paramilitary soldier traveling with the Americans. Two more U.S. soldiers were wounded, along with about 100 other people, mostly students at the school. The U.S. special envoy to Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, said it did not appear that the Americans were directly targeted by the blast, which he said was caused by a roadside bomb. However, witnesses said the vehicle carrying the Americans took the brunt of the explosion, indicating it may have been directed at the Americans. That would raise the specter of a militant informant close to the training mission. Lower Dir is a base for militants belonging to the Pakistani Taliban. The Pakistani army claimed to have retaken the area in an offensive last June that also cleared insurgents from the nearby Swat Valley. The American special operations soldiers were part of a small group training members of the paramilitary Frontier Corps, the U.S. Embassy said. The mission is trying to strengthen the ability of the corps to fight militants. Pakistan doesn't allow U.S. combat troops on its territory, so training local security forces is key to denying militants a sanctuary from which to attack U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan. In Washington, meanwhile, a senior intelligence official said that U.S. authorities now believe that Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud died after a missile attack last month. |
| Posted by:tipper |