Peace and War

Saturday, June 9, 2007

NATO Forces Strike Militants in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan, June 9 — A two-hour gun battle left several Taliban and Qaeda fighters dead in southern Afghanistan early Saturday, officials said.

Troops from the United States-led coalition and Afghan forces were approaching two places suspected of being militant compounds in Zabul Province when they came under attack from gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades from a nearby hill, a coalition statement said.

“Their entire fighting force on that hill was wiped out,” Maj. Chris Belcher, a coalition spokesman, said of the attackers.

Five militants were reported detained and a cache of weapons was destroyed. The coalition did not say how many militants had been killed.

In neighboring Paktika Province, the Afghan police arrested six people suspected of being Qaeda members over the past three days, said Ghamai Khan, a spokesman for the governor.

Four Afghan civilians were killed Friday when their vehicle and a NATO military truck collided, NATO’s International Security Assistance Force said. Seven Afghans and two NATO soldiers were wounded.

The international force said a taxi carrying 11 people sped toward the military convoy, and when the taxi tried to slow down, the driver lost control and crashed into the front of a military truck.

Five of the wounded were taken by helicopter to an ISAF medical unit. ISAF said the accident was being investigated by military and civilian authorities.

A roadside bomb in Laghman Province killed a policeman and wounded three people on Friday evening, said the provincial police chief, Abdul Karim.

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