July 14, 2008

PESHAWAR: The Taliban in Afghanistan on Sunday claimed to have attacked a US military camp in the eastern Nuristan province, killing around 20 soldiers.

"We attacked a US military camp at Wanth area of Waigal town in Nuristan at 4 am on Sunday and killed 20 soldiers. It was a well-planned attack in which our fighters hit them with rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47 rifles," said a caller, who introduced himself as Qari Shakir, spokesman for Sheikh Dost Mohammad, Taliban commander in Nuristan.

US military officials in Kabul confirmed the killing of nine soldiers in the attack in eastern Afghanistan. The Talibans spokesman said majority of the soldiers was sleeping and they did not face any resistance while entering the camp.

He said around 60 Taliban fighters stormed the camp and opened fire at the soldiers. He claimed three of the Taliban fighters received injuries when some of the US soldiers retaliated. Qari Shakir said information of their agents working in the camp played a key role in their successful strike.

"We were aware of their positions and the exact locations of the soldiers and ammunition," claimed the Taliban spokesman. Later, he said, US fighter aircraft blitzed the towns in which dozens of civilians, including women and children were killed.

Also, a local journalist based in Asadabad, the provincial headquarters of neighbouring Kunar province, said one Abdul Halim, spokesman for the Nuristan governor, told Afghan reporters that 40 civilians were killed in the air strikes on Wanth, Waigal and other adjoining towns.

The Taliban spokesman said their Arab colleagues also took part in what he called an 'important mission’. He claimed the US Army had suffered heavy losses in Nuristan province at the hands of well-organised Taliban fighting under the command of Sheikh Dost Mohammad.

"It boosted our morale and we will now plan another such attack on the enemy," remarked Qari Shakir. According to the Afghan journalist, the spokesman also said they had lost contact with their officials including district administrator after what he termed 'heavy bombing’ on the towns by the US planes.

The spokesman said dozens of houses were destroyed and a bazaar burnt in the air strikes that continued for several hours. Nuristan is one of Afghanistan’s few Taliban-infested provinces where the US army has been facing tough resistance from the Taliban and al-Qaeda.

It was in Nuristan where the Taliban commander Qari Ismail and his men in June 2006 shot down a US Chinook chopper, killing 16 Americans. AP adds: Earlier, a suicide bomber on a motorcycle blew himself up next to a police patrol in southern Afghanistan, killing 24 people, while a two-day battle sparked by an insurgent attack killed at least 40 militants, officials said.

The bombing attack in Uruzgan province also killed five police officers and wounded more than 30 others, said Juma Gul Himat, the province’s police chief. The bomber struck the police patrol at a busy intersection of Deh Rawood district, Himat said, adding that the bombing also damaged or destroyed about nine shops in the area.

He said most of those killed and wounded were shopkeepers and young boys selling cigarettes and other goods in the street. In Helmand province, a militant attack on Afghan and US-led coalition forces sparked a battle that killed at least 40 militants, the coalition claimed in a statement.

The militants attacked the combined forces near Sangin on Saturday from "multiple concealed and fortified positions," the coalition said. Thirty "enemy boats" and several small bridges were destroyed on the Helmand River during the two days of fighting.

A soldier with Nato’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) died in a roadside blast in the Helmand province on Sunday, a statement said. The soldier’s nationality was not released and it wasn’t clear if the death was connected to the two-day battle.

In eastern Kunar province, fighting erupted when militants attacked an outpost of the Nato-led force, the military alliance said in a statement. Nato accused militants of using civilian homes and a mosque for cover. It said there were casualties on both sides, but it did not provide any figures.

Gen Mohammad Zahir Azimi, a spokesman for Afghanistan’s Defence Ministry, confirmed the fighting and said four Afghan soldiers were wounded. Meanwhile, Taliban militants executed two women in central Afghanistan after accusing them of working as prostitutes on a US base.

The women, dressed in blue burqas, were shot and killed late Saturday just outside Ghazni city in central Afghanistan, said Sayed Ismail, a spokesman for Ghazni’s governor. Taliban fighters told AP Television News the two were executed for allegedly running a prostitution ring catering to US soldiers and other foreign contractors at a US base in Ghazni city.

1st Lt Nathan Perry, a US military spokesman, said he had never heard of allegations "anything close to that nature." In the eastern Logar province, meanwhile, gunmen kidnapped parliament member Abdul Wali and his driver on Sunday, said provincial police chief General Mohammad Mustafa.