NATO says all Kandahar attackers captured or killed
PATRICK QUINN
Kabul— The Associated Press
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All the insurgents involved in a co-ordinated weekend attack against key government buildings in the southern city of Kandahar have either been captured or killed, NATO said Monday.
More than two dozen insurgents were killed in the battle, which raised new questions about the effectiveness of a yearlong campaign to secure Afghanistan’s south and Kandahar in particular. The city was the birthplace of the Taliban and is the economic hub of southern Afghanistan.
“There were no breaches in the compounds and the areas that coalition forces and Afghan forces took over in the winter season are still in Afghan and coalition control, and all the insurgents involved in the attack are either captured or killed. The attacks in Kandahar were ineffective,” said NATO spokeswoman Brig. Gen. Christine Whitecross.
The Taliban attack on Kandahar which began Saturday and ended Sunday was the most ambitious since the insurgents declared the start of a spring offensive against NATO last month. NATO has been expecting the Taliban to stage a series of spectacular and complex attacks, and the group has already carried out a number of them – but Kandahar was the largest so far.
“The Afghan forces responded capably. They kept this from becoming a spectacular attack that the insurgents had hoped for,” Brig. Gen. Whitecross said.
Afghan officials said at least 25 insurgents and two members of the Afghan security forces and one civilian were killed. At least four were arrested and 40 people were wounded. The final two were killed making a last stand in the Kandahar Hotel.
In Kandahar, Governor Tooryalai Wesa said Afghan forces had finished clearing the Kandahar Hotel, where a small group of insurgents fought to the end. He added that “the scene has been cleared and the enemy has been totally killed.”
But the daily cycle of increasing violence persisted in other parts of Afghanistan. In eastern Laghman province, a suicide bomber on a motorcycle blew himself up in front of a compound belonging to Saleh Mohammad Niazi, the chief of the Qarghayi district. Mr. Niazi said three people were killed in the blast and another 12 were wounded – including two police officers. The bomber was targeting a NATO convoy. There were no immediate reports on coalition casualties.
(source:theglobeandmail.com)
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