KABUL, Afghanistan — American forces suffered a deadly 24 hours in Afghanistan, with eight troops killed in attacks including an audacious Taliban raid on a police compound in the key southern city of Kandahar, officials said Wednesday. The U.S. and its coalition allies have warned that violence and troop casualties are likely to mount this summer as thousands of new forces fan out across southern insurgent strongholds in a bid to turn around the nearly 9-year-long war.
However, a top U.S. commander in the south said Wednesday that the new operation should start reducing violence in coming months. So far in July, 45 coalition troops have died in Afghanistan, 33 of them Americans, continuing the upward trend of the previous month, which was war's deadliest for the NATO-led force, with 103 international soldiers killed.
A suicide attacker slammed a car bomb into the gate of the headquarters of the elite Afghan National Civil Order Police late Tuesday night in Kandahar, the international force said. Minutes later, insurgents opened fire with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.
Three U.S. troops, an Afghan policeman and five civilians — three interpreters and two security guards — died in the attack, but NATO said the insurgents failed to enter the compound.
Four more American troops were killed elsewhere in the south Wednesday by a roadside bomb, while one more U.S. service member died the same day of wounds from a gunbattle, also in the south. NATO gave no further details of those attacks.
Nine Afghan civilians died in Marjah on Tuesday when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb, the Ministry of Interior said. Another homemade bomb killed two security guards traveling on a road in eastern Paktika province.
Britain's forces suffered a blow when an Afghan soldier partnered with them turned against his unit, killing three British troops, including the company commander, before fleeing. The Taliban later announced the man had surrendered to the insurgents and was in "a safe place."
Afghan Gen. Ghulam Farook Parwani identified the soldier Wednesday as Talib Hussein, age 22 or 23, a Hazara minority Shiite Muslim from the eastern province of Ghazni.
The soldier's identity deepened the mystery of his motive, since the Hazara were persecuted by the Taliban when the hard-liners ruled Afghanistan during 1996-2001 with their extreme interpretation of Islamic law. Taliban are mostly of ethnic Pashtun Sunni Muslims who see Shiites as doctrinally impure.
Parwani said Hussein was recruited into the Afghan army only about eight or nine months previously. He said initial investigations indicate Hussein was a habitual hashish smoker.[beritaterkini-msnbc.msn.com]
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Afghan policemen secure a police base which came under attack last night
in Kandahar, south of Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, July 14, 2010.
Three US troops and five Afghan civilians died in a car bomb blast
and gunfire outside the base Tuesday. (AP Photo/Allauddin Khan)
However, a top U.S. commander in the south said Wednesday that the new operation should start reducing violence in coming months. So far in July, 45 coalition troops have died in Afghanistan, 33 of them Americans, continuing the upward trend of the previous month, which was war's deadliest for the NATO-led force, with 103 international soldiers killed.
A suicide attacker slammed a car bomb into the gate of the headquarters of the elite Afghan National Civil Order Police late Tuesday night in Kandahar, the international force said. Minutes later, insurgents opened fire with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.
Three U.S. troops, an Afghan policeman and five civilians — three interpreters and two security guards — died in the attack, but NATO said the insurgents failed to enter the compound.
Four more American troops were killed elsewhere in the south Wednesday by a roadside bomb, while one more U.S. service member died the same day of wounds from a gunbattle, also in the south. NATO gave no further details of those attacks.
Nine Afghan civilians died in Marjah on Tuesday when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb, the Ministry of Interior said. Another homemade bomb killed two security guards traveling on a road in eastern Paktika province.
Britain's forces suffered a blow when an Afghan soldier partnered with them turned against his unit, killing three British troops, including the company commander, before fleeing. The Taliban later announced the man had surrendered to the insurgents and was in "a safe place."
Afghan Gen. Ghulam Farook Parwani identified the soldier Wednesday as Talib Hussein, age 22 or 23, a Hazara minority Shiite Muslim from the eastern province of Ghazni.
The soldier's identity deepened the mystery of his motive, since the Hazara were persecuted by the Taliban when the hard-liners ruled Afghanistan during 1996-2001 with their extreme interpretation of Islamic law. Taliban are mostly of ethnic Pashtun Sunni Muslims who see Shiites as doctrinally impure.
Parwani said Hussein was recruited into the Afghan army only about eight or nine months previously. He said initial investigations indicate Hussein was a habitual hashish smoker.[beritaterkini-msnbc.msn.com]
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