[NYTr] 6 Occupation Troops, 2 Afghan Allies KIA in Afghanistan; 29 "Taliban" said Killed

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

AP via Yahoo - Aug 28, 2007
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070828/ap_on_re_as/afghanistan


6 Western soldiers killed in Afghanistan

By CHRIS BRUMMITT
Associated Press Writer

Fighting between NATO troops and Taliban fighters killed eight soldiers
— including six Westerners — in eastern and southern Afghanistan, where
insurgent attacks are running at their highest level since the U.S.
invasion, officials said Monday.

Reports from officials Monday and Tuesday indicated 29 militants also
were killed in several recent clashes.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Monday he was adding 150 military
trainers to a 1,000-person contingent in Afghanistan after months of
speculation about France's commitment to the international force.

"I decided to reinforce the presence of our trainers in the Afghan
army, because it is (the Afghan army) that must first of all wage and
win the fight against the Taliban," Sarkozy said in opening an annual
conference of French ambassadors, his first as president.

Speculation that France could withdraw troops surfaced after it pulled
out 200 special forces in December, and after Sarkozy said during the
campaign that France had no reason to stay long-term.

There have been more insurgent attacks on Afghan and Western troops in
recent months than at any time since U.S. forces invaded in 2001 to
oust the Taliban government, which harbored al-Qaida before and after
the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S.

In the Netherlands, defense chief Gen. Dick Berlijn said a Dutch
sergeant was killed by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan Sunday
night near the town of Deh Rawod.

Gunmen shot and killed another NATO soldier during a foot patrol in
eastern Afghanistan the same day, NATO said. On Monday, a third NATO
soldier was killed and another wounded when insurgents ambushed them
using rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons in eastern
Afghanistan, NATO said.

NATO did not release the soldiers' nationalities, but most NATO troops
in the east are American.

Another ambush Monday killed three members of the U.S.-led coalition
and two Afghan soldiers in eastern Kunar province, a statement from the
coalition said. It said the coalition soldiers were advisers to the
Afghan army, but did not identify them.

On Tuesday, officials said U.S.-led coalition and Afghan troops had
battled suspected Taliban militants in two separate clashes in southern
Afghanistan, killing up to 19 insurgents. The clashes occurred Monday
in the Musa Qala district of Helmand province and Shah Wali Kot
district in neighboring Kandahar province.

Abductions targeting Afghan officials and foreigners helping with
reconstruction also have become a key insurgent tactic.

A purported Taliban spokesman said the militants will resume
face-to-face talks with South Korean officials on Tuesday on the fate
of 19 Korean church volunteers kidnapped as they traveled by bus from
Kabul to the former Taliban stronghold of Kandahar.

The insurgents have demanded the withdrawal of around 200 South Korean
troops currently in the country and the release of militant prisoners
in exchange for the captives' freedom.

Two hostages have been killed and two released.

The spokesman, Qari Yousef Ahmadi, said the fourth round of talks would
be held in the central town of Ghazni under the mediation of the
International Red Cross, which oversaw the previous negotiations.

Neither the Red Cross nor South Korean officials were available to
confirm the planned talks.

Afghan police, meanwhile, killed six suspected militants during a
one-hour gunbattle in Paktika province, which borders Pakistan, late on
Sunday, said Ghamia Khan, a spokesman for the provincial governor. He
gave no more details.

In the southern Zabul province, Afghan and coalition troops clashed
with insurgents in Daychopan district Sunday, killing four suspected
Taliban and wounding four others, said Fazel Bari, the Daychopan
district chief.

Also Sunday, Afghan and coalition troops destroyed a heroin laboratory
after battling Taliban fighters guarding the facility, a separate
coalition statement said. The lab in Helmand contained large amounts of
opium-processing chemicals as well as weapons, insurgent propaganda and
explosive materials, it said.

Afghanistan accounts for more than 90 percent of the world's heroin
supply, and a significant portion of the profits from the $3.1 billion
trade are thought to flow to Taliban fighters who tax and protect poppy
farmers and drug runners.

Copyright © 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.