NATO says kills 150 insurgents in Afghanistan
Source: Reuters
(Adds comment from NATO force commander) By Sayed Salahuddin KABUL, Jan 11 (Reuters) - NATO and Afghan troops killed up to 150 insurgents in a ground and air attack in southeastern Afghanistan after the insurgents infiltrated from neighbouring Pakistan, the alliance said on Thursday. Afghan anger over the infiltration of Taliban militants from Pakistan has soured relations between the neighbours, both important U.S. allies in the war on terrorism. The latest fighting, which appeared to be the biggest clash in Afghanistan in months, occurred on Wednesday night in the mountainous Bermal district of Paktika province, NATO said. NATO and Afghan forces observed two large groups of insurgents gathering on the Pakistani side of the border, said a spokesman. "They spotted them, they tracked them, then, when they entered Afghanistan and were a threat to ISAF and Afghan forces nearby, they were engaged with air power and artillery," said Mark Laity, spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force. "The result was, in a running series of engagements, about 150 killed." The casualty estimate was based on initial battle damage reports, NATO said. The Pakistani military had been kept fully informed during the operation, it said. The Afghan Defence Ministry said the insurgents were bringing in a shipment of ammunition. It estimated 80 of them had been killed. Eleven bodies had been recovered. The Taliban rejected the NATO report as "baseless and false" and said no fighters had been killed. "Only civilians were targeted," a Taliban spokesman, Mohammad Hanif, said by telephone. If confirmed, the toll would be the highest since September when NATO troops forced the Taliban out of a district near the southern city of Kandahar in a two-week offensive that NATO said killed at least 500 insurgents. MILITARY TALKS The attack came as U.S. and NATO commanders were meeting Pakistani commanders in Islamabad for regular talks on the insurgency. Last year was the bloodiest in Afghanistan since U.S.-led forces overthrew the Taliban in 2001. More than 4,000 people were killed. Afghanistan says the militants have sanctuaries in Pakistan from where they plot and launch attacks. Pakistan was the main supporter of the Taliban until the Sept. 11 attacks. It denies helping them but says some militants are crossing into Afghanistan from Pakistani tribal lands where Pakistani forces have been battling militants. An increasingly frustrated Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, levelled his strongest ever criticism at Pakistan last month, openly accusing state elements of supporting the insurgents. The commander of the NATO force, General David Richards, told reporters at the military talks in Islamabad Afghan violence had fallen off towards the end of the year largely because of operations on both sides of the border. He said Pakistani forces were doing a huge amount but a problem remained. He did not elaborate. Nor did he refer to the latest fighting. Assistant U.S. Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Richard Boucher told reporters in Kabul Pakistan was committed to battling militancy. Boucher was due to travel to Pakistan for talks that would include a Pakistani plan to build fences and lay mines to stop infiltration. Afghanistan opposes the plan to fortify a colonial-era border it doesn't recognise and says Pakistan should instead crack down on Taliban there. (Additional reporting by Robert Birsel in KABUL, Saeed Ali Achakzai in SPIN BOLDAK, Zeeshan Haider in ISLAMABAD)
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