Five NATO troops die in Afghan blast
By Sayed Salahuddin and Joshua Partlow,
By Sayed Salahuddin and Joshua Partlow,
Thursday, August 11, 5:01 PM
======================================================
KABUL — A roadside bomb killed five soldiers from the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan on Thursday, officials said, bringing the August toll for the coalition to at least 50, an unusually deadly month.
NATO refused to specify the location of the blast in southern Afghanistan or identify the fatalities. On Wednesday, another NATO soldier also was killed by an explosion in the southern part of the country. Roadside bombs are the favorite and most deadly weapon for Taliban insurgents in their campaign against foreign and Afghan forces.
Afghan officials contacted in various southern provinces were unaware of the incident, which comes days after 30 U.S. soldiers, one of their translators and seven Afghan commandos were killed when insurgents shot down their Chinook helicopter.
Some of the 30 soldiers who perished in the helicopter downing were members of the same elite Navy Seals unit that had killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in May.
Late on Wednesday, NATO said the coalition had killed the Taliban militantsresponsible for the helicopter attack. After an “exhaustive manhunt,” U.S. Special Operations troops found Mullah Mohibullah, a Taliban commander, and the man believed to have shot down the helicopter, in a wooded area of Wardak province as they were attempting to flee to Pakistan, according to a coalition statement. The special operations troops called in an airstrike that killed the two men.
The toll from the helicopter crash was the deadliest in a single incident for the NATO coalition and the U.S. military since the ouster of the Taliban government in 2001. The highest monthly death toll during the conflict came this past June, when 103 NATO soldiers were killed, according to the Web site icasualties.org, which tracks military fatalities.
Just over one-third of the way through August, the toll is at least 50.
Despite the troops surge since 2010, violence has persisted in Afghanistan, and the Taliban has waged a campaign to assassinate top government officials.
======================================================
KABUL — A roadside bomb killed five soldiers from the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan on Thursday, officials said, bringing the August toll for the coalition to at least 50, an unusually deadly month.
NATO refused to specify the location of the blast in southern Afghanistan or identify the fatalities. On Wednesday, another NATO soldier also was killed by an explosion in the southern part of the country. Roadside bombs are the favorite and most deadly weapon for Taliban insurgents in their campaign against foreign and Afghan forces.
Afghan officials contacted in various southern provinces were unaware of the incident, which comes days after 30 U.S. soldiers, one of their translators and seven Afghan commandos were killed when insurgents shot down their Chinook helicopter.
Some of the 30 soldiers who perished in the helicopter downing were members of the same elite Navy Seals unit that had killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in May.
Late on Wednesday, NATO said the coalition had killed the Taliban militantsresponsible for the helicopter attack. After an “exhaustive manhunt,” U.S. Special Operations troops found Mullah Mohibullah, a Taliban commander, and the man believed to have shot down the helicopter, in a wooded area of Wardak province as they were attempting to flee to Pakistan, according to a coalition statement. The special operations troops called in an airstrike that killed the two men.
The toll from the helicopter crash was the deadliest in a single incident for the NATO coalition and the U.S. military since the ouster of the Taliban government in 2001. The highest monthly death toll during the conflict came this past June, when 103 NATO soldiers were killed, according to the Web site icasualties.org, which tracks military fatalities.
Just over one-third of the way through August, the toll is at least 50.
Despite the troops surge since 2010, violence has persisted in Afghanistan, and the Taliban has waged a campaign to assassinate top government officials.
=================================================
washingtonpost.com/world/five-nato-troops-die-in-afghan-blast/2011/08/11/gIQAJJRK8I_story.html
No comments:
Post a Comment