Costly Attacks In Afghanistan

Two attacks in Eastern Afghanistan show how turbulent that front in the war is. In the city of Khost, a team of suicide bombers tried - unsuccessfully - to assault Camp Salerno, a US military base. This is just one day after a suicide bomb outside the base killed 10 and wounded 13.

Soldiers on the ground, fighter aircraft and helicopters chased the retreating militants. NATO said its forces identified the attackers about 1,000 yards outside of the base perimeter and launched helicopter gunships.

Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi, the Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman, said Afghan soldiers, aided by U.S. troops, chased and surrounded a group of insurgents, and that six militants blew themselves up when cornered. Seven other militants died in those explosions and a rolling gun battle, he said.

“[The Afghan National Army] is saying that anytime we get close to them, they detonate themselves,” Jamal said.

NATO offered a slightly different account, saying three suicide bombers detonated their vests and three more were shot dead. NATO said seven attackers in total were killed.

At least 13 insurgents and two Afghan civilians died in the attack, officials said. Five Afghan soldiers were wounded in the fighting, Azimi said.

The Taliban appeared to confirm the account. Zabiullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, said 15 militants had been dispatched for the attack on Salerno. Seven blew themselves up and eight returned to a Taliban safehouse, he said.

Meanwhile, our French allies lost ten men during a an ambush outside of Sarobi, a town about 50km east of Kabul.

The shock attack also left 21 French troops wounded, and prompted French President Nicolas Sarkozy to announce he would immediately head to the country, where the monthly death toll for foreign forces has topped war-torn Iraq.
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"Yesterday 10 of our soldiers ... were killed in Afghanistan, 21 others were wounded during a joint reconnaissance mission with the Afghan national army," Sarkozy said in a statement issued in Paris.
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Around 100 insurgents attacked a patrol containing French and Afghan troops, said NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), under which about 3,000 French soldiers serve.

The fighting began Monday and lasted into Tuesday, it said in a statement.

"The initial patrol was reinforced with quick reaction forces, close air support and mobile medical teams. During the engagement a large number of insurgents were killed," ISAF said.
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Before the latest fighting, a dozen French soldiers had lost their lives in various incidents in Afghanistan since the French military deployed to the country in 2003.

The fighting took to 176 the number of international soldiers killed in Afghanistan this year, most of them in attacks. Nine US soldiers were killed in July when insurgents stormed a base in the northeastern province of Kunar.

Violence is increasing in Afghanistan as the Taliban and Al Qaeda step up their attacks. With the removal of Musharraf from power - and the ascension of people more interested in compromise than confrontation with the disruptive/terrorist elements in their country - the tempo of violence in Afghanistan will probably get even worse.

(Sources: Army Times, AFP)