[NYTr] Afghan: Taliban stages brazen attack on US. base

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

AP via CNN - Aug 8, 2007
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/08/08/taliban.afghan.ap/index.html?eref=rss_world

Taliban stages brazen attack on U.S. base

GHAZNI, Afghanistan (AP) -- A group of 75 Taliban militants tried to
overrun a U.S.-led coalition base in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, a
rare frontal attack that left more than 20 militants dead, the
coalition said in a statement.

 The insurgents attacked Firebase Anaconda from three sides, using
gunfire, grenades and 107 mm rockets, the coalition said. A joint
Afghan-U.S. force repelled the attack with mortars, machine guns and
air support.

"Almost two dozen insurgents were confirmed killed in the attack," the
statement said. Two girls and two Afghan soldiers were wounded during
the fight in Uruzgan province, it said.

A firebase like Anaconda is usually a remote outpost staffed by as few
as several dozen soldiers.

"The inability of the insurgent forces to inflict any severe damage on
Firebase Anaconda, while being simultaneously decimated in the process,
should be a clear indication of the ineffectiveness of their fighters,"
said Army Capt. Vanessa R. Bowman, a coalition spokeswoman.

A direct attack on a U.S. or NATO base by insurgents on foot is
relatively rare. More often insurgents fire rockets at bases and flee.
Military officials say that Taliban fighters know they can't match
Western militaries in a heads-up battle, which leads the insurgents to
more often rely on roadside and suicide bombs.

Meanwhile, South Korean officials and Taliban leaders were expected to
agree Tuesday on a meeting place to negotiate the release of 21 South
Korean hostages, an Afghan politician said.

 The South Koreans and Taliban representatives have been talking by
phone for several days and planned to determine a location for their
first face-to-face talks by the end of the day, said Gov. Marajudin
Pathan, the leader in Ghazni province, where the Koreans were kidnapped.

"There will be one of our government officials in the talks as well,"
Pathan told The Associated Press.

Pathan said that the meeting is likely to take place in Ghazni
province, but could not provide any further details. South Koreans
embassy officials were not immediately available for comment.

In South Korea, relatives of the hostages expressed disappointment
Tuesday that meetings Sunday and Monday at Camp David between Afghan
President Hamid Karzai and President Bush failed to produce concrete
measures to bring the captives home.

The Afghan and U.S. presidents ruled out making any concessions to the
Taliban militants during their meetings.

South Korean Foreign Minister Song Min-soon cautioned that the country
should be prepared for a protracted ordeal, noting that other hostages
in Afghanistan had been held an average of 35 days.

Song also said none of the captives were suffering from critical health
problems.

A purported Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousef Ahmadi, said the meeting
between Karzai and Bush had "no result," and that militant prisoners
must be released in exchange for the lives of South Korean hostages or
there will be a "bad result."

The militants kidnapped 23 Korean aid workers traveling by bus from
Kabul to Kandahar on July 19. Two male hostages have been killed.

Taliban militants clashed with police in two separate incidents in
southern Afghanistan, leaving five militants and two officers dead,
officials said Tuesday.

The militants attacked police at a checkpoint in Zabul province on
Monday, and the ensuing clash left five suspected militants dead, said
Ali Kheil, the spokesman for Zabul's governor.

Also Monday, militants attacked a police vehicle just outside Kandahar
city, killing two officers and wounding eight others, said provincial
police chief Syed Agha Saqib. The attackers escaped and police are
hunting for them, he said.

Insurgent attacks and military operations have killed more than 3,600
people so far this year, most of them militants. Much of the violence
has been concentrated in the former Taliban stronghold in the south.
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Also in southern Afghanistan, Dutch soldiers fatally shot a
motorcyclist who approached their convoy and failed to heed warning
signals and shots, the Dutch Defense Ministry said.

International forces are often the targets of suicide bombers, and they
repeatedly warn Afghan civilian motorists to slow down or steer clear
of convoys so they are not mistaken for attackers. Several civilians
have been killed in such incidents. 

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press