Toll Climbs to 80 in NATO Raid on Insurgent Camp in Southeastern Afghanistan
By SHARIFULLAH SAHAK and ALISSA J. RUBIN Published: July 23, 2011
The camp, which was raided Thursday by NATO troops backed up by Afghan forces, accommodated considerably more people than most compounds where Taliban and other insurgents take shelter along the border with Pakistan. The discovery raised questions about how entrenched the insurgency had become in southeastern Afghanistan. NATO has conducted many raids along the border, but rarely if ever come across compounds big enough for dozens of insurgents, officials said.
Most of the dead were from the tribal areas of Pakistan, NATO and local officials said. The tribal areas on the Pakistan side of the border are populated by Pashtuns of similar background to those on the Afghan side and are home to many Afghans who fled their country during the Russian occupation here.
A NATO spokesman declined to give any information on how many of the insurgents were Pashtuns from Pakistan and how many were foreign jihadi fighters. Foreign fighters, mostly from the Arab world or central Asia, are frequently associated with Al Qaeda and similar groups dedicated to global jihad.
The insurgents killed in the NATO attack were affiliated with the Haqqani group, a particularly effective and brutal militant faction based around a family originally from neighboring Paktia Province, according to a NATO statement on the attack. For several years the Haqqanis have been headquartered in Miran Shah in north Waziristan, one of Pakistan’s tribal areas, which explains why many of the fighters appear to have been drawn from there rather than from the Afghan side of the border.
“These fighters were moved into the country by Haqqani insurgents who planned to use them for attacks throughout Afghanistan,” the NATO statement said. The Haqqani group has been associated with an attack last month on the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul as well as one on the Kabul Bank in Jalalabad in February in which gunmen mowed down civilians who were collecting their salaries.
American and Afghan forces were still clearing the area of the NATO attack on Saturday morning and received occasional fire from insurgents throughout the day, said Muhibullah Samim, the governor of Paktika Province.
In photos released by the military, the insurgents appeared to have fashioned rough shelters built into rocks and under tree roots that they had fortified and then covered with white pieces of cloth to provide some protection from the elements. According to local officials, the camp was relatively newly built. It had been there for about 20 days, said Hajji Abdul Qadir, a member of Parliament from Paktika Province.
The camp’s surroundings are mountainous and thinly populated. “There is no border police, and no government or foreign military base to control or stop insurgents from coming into Afghanistan in that place,” he said.
Local residents have long been disillusioned with the government and frustrated because there is little in the way of employment, schools or health care, said Sayid Ishaq Gilani, a member of Parliament from Paktika.
“Local residents in Sar Rawza district have been deprived of the central government because they do not have any school to go, they don’t have jobs, and no paved roads in their district,” Mr. Gilani said. “So they are keeping their distance from the government more and more, day by day, and becoming hopeless. And that’s why most of them help the insurgents to come in their areas and let them do whatever they want, and they help them.”
Mr. Gilani said he feared there were many other camps in the province. “The information we have is that Chechen and Uzbek fighters are there,” he said
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A version of this article appeared in print on July 24, 2011, on page A11 of the New York edition with the headline: Toll Climbs to 80 in NATO Raid on Insurgent Camp in Southeastern Afghanistan
.nytimes.com/2011/07/24/world/asia/24afghan.html
By SHARIFULLAH SAHAK and ALISSA J. RUBIN Published: July 23, 2011
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A version of this article appeared in print on July 24, 2011, on page A11 of the New York edition with the headline: Toll Climbs to 80 in NATO Raid on Insurgent Camp in Southeastern Afghanistan.KABUL, Afghanistan — The number of insurgents reported killed in a NATO attack on a large encampment in a remote area of Paktika Province rose to 80 on Saturday, said Afghan officials, adding that they were concerned that there could be more undetected militant camps within the country’s borders.The camp, which was raided Thursday by NATO troops backed up by Afghan forces, accommodated considerably more people than most compounds where Taliban and other insurgents take shelter along the border with Pakistan. The discovery raised questions about how entrenched the insurgency had become in southeastern Afghanistan. NATO has conducted many raids along the border, but rarely if ever come across compounds big enough for dozens of insurgents, officials said.
Most of the dead were from the tribal areas of Pakistan, NATO and local officials said. The tribal areas on the Pakistan side of the border are populated by Pashtuns of similar background to those on the Afghan side and are home to many Afghans who fled their country during the Russian occupation here.
A NATO spokesman declined to give any information on how many of the insurgents were Pashtuns from Pakistan and how many were foreign jihadi fighters. Foreign fighters, mostly from the Arab world or central Asia, are frequently associated with Al Qaeda and similar groups dedicated to global jihad.
The insurgents killed in the NATO attack were affiliated with the Haqqani group, a particularly effective and brutal militant faction based around a family originally from neighboring Paktia Province, according to a NATO statement on the attack. For several years the Haqqanis have been headquartered in Miran Shah in north Waziristan, one of Pakistan’s tribal areas, which explains why many of the fighters appear to have been drawn from there rather than from the Afghan side of the border.
“These fighters were moved into the country by Haqqani insurgents who planned to use them for attacks throughout Afghanistan,” the NATO statement said. The Haqqani group has been associated with an attack last month on the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul as well as one on the Kabul Bank in Jalalabad in February in which gunmen mowed down civilians who were collecting their salaries.
American and Afghan forces were still clearing the area of the NATO attack on Saturday morning and received occasional fire from insurgents throughout the day, said Muhibullah Samim, the governor of Paktika Province.
In photos released by the military, the insurgents appeared to have fashioned rough shelters built into rocks and under tree roots that they had fortified and then covered with white pieces of cloth to provide some protection from the elements. According to local officials, the camp was relatively newly built. It had been there for about 20 days, said Hajji Abdul Qadir, a member of Parliament from Paktika Province.
The camp’s surroundings are mountainous and thinly populated. “There is no border police, and no government or foreign military base to control or stop insurgents from coming into Afghanistan in that place,” he said.
Local residents have long been disillusioned with the government and frustrated because there is little in the way of employment, schools or health care, said Sayid Ishaq Gilani, a member of Parliament from Paktika.
“Local residents in Sar Rawza district have been deprived of the central government because they do not have any school to go, they don’t have jobs, and no paved roads in their district,” Mr. Gilani said. “So they are keeping their distance from the government more and more, day by day, and becoming hopeless. And that’s why most of them help the insurgents to come in their areas and let them do whatever they want, and they help them.”
Mr. Gilani said he feared there were many other camps in the province. “The information we have is that Chechen and Uzbek fighters are there,” he said
=================================================
A version of this article appeared in print on July 24, 2011, on page A11 of the New York edition with the headline: Toll Climbs to 80 in NATO Raid on Insurgent Camp in Southeastern Afghanistan
.nytimes.com/2011/07/24/world/asia/24afghan.html
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