Posted on 10/28/2003 5:30:05 AM PST by Coop
Edited on 04/29/2004 2:03:19 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
KABUL, Afghanistan -- At least 22 fighters from the ousted Taliban regime and al Qaeda network were killed in an aerial assault by U.S.-led forces in southeastern Paktika province, according to Reuters..
Air support was called in on Tuesday after a group of Taliban and al Qaeda fugitives fired rockets and heavy machine-guns on a base used by U.S.-led troops and their Afghan allies in Shkin, near the Pakistan border, on Saturday, said Paktika province govenor Mohammad Ali Jalali.
(Excerpt) Read more at edition.cnn.com ...
Not surprisingly, the group previously reported as all Al Qaeda now includes Taliban among them. The good news is they've added two to the KIA list.
http://www.hipakistan.com/en/detail.php?newsId=en43190&F_catID=&f_type=source
ISLAMABAD: Intelligence sources Monday said recent raids had netted seven suspected members of the al Qaeda terrorist network, including an Egyptian-born Canadian said to be an important member of the group. The sources said four were arrested in Faislabad, Two were Yemenis and one was Pakistani. The fourth was identified as Ahmed Saad Khadar, also known as Abu Abdul Rehman, an Egyptian-born Canadian. The sources said he played a key role in the network but gave no further details. They said Khadar was among a group of 22 al Qaeda members who came to Faislabad after the Pakistan Army began operations in the border area. They said Khadar had been scheduled to undergo plastic surgery. The Pakistani man arrested was identified as Mohammad Jawaid, 32. Intelligence sources said a search of his house uncovered some compact discs, maps, a lap top computer, hand grenades and other weapons. Authorities arrested three Yemenis suspected of being al Qaeda operatives in Karachi, the sources said. They identified the three as Youswaf bin Zavi, Jawad al Bashir, and a man whose name was given only as Shaban. They said satellite phones, pistols, and foreign currency were recovered.
WOW...talk about stray bullets...
Foxnews just had an alert where it was confirmed that the two were CIA personnel pursuing top terrorists leadership targets!
Mullah Omar?
With ten dead, it sounds as if these two brave souls accomplished their mission and got their target(s). Small condolences for the families, of course.
Hmmmmmmmmmmm!
But then here's another article:
18 rebels killed in Afghan
By BURT HERMAN - Associated Press
18 rebels killed in Afghan
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- U.S.-led coalition troops and Afghan militia killed 18 rebel fighters during a six-hour firefight in eastern Afghanistan near the Pakistan border, calling in airstrikes to help repel the attackers, the U.S. military said Tuesday.
Six Afghan militiamen were wounded in the fighting that began Saturday morning, the coalition said in a statement. There were no coalition casualties.
U.S.-backed Afghan militia members were patrolling 27 miles south of a base in Shkin, a town in Paktika province, when they ran into as many as 25 anti-coalition fighters at 7:45 a.m., the military said. The coalition said a rapid reaction force from its Shkin base, 135 miles south of Kabul, was called in to reinforce the Afghan soldiers.
During an exchange of small-arms fire between the ground forces, A-10 Thunderbolt airplanes and Apache helicopters were called in for air strikes. One vehicle was destroyed and the surviving rebels retreated, the military said. It said "approximately 18 enemy personnel" were killed.
The clash was reported Monday by Afghan officials, but they gave conflicting accounts. Tuesday's statement was the first by the coalition on the incident.
Mohammed Ali Jalali, governor of Paktika province, said Tuesday that a separate battle Saturday in the province's Gomal district, about two miles from the Pakistan border, left 10 rebels dead -- including four Arabs.
The coalition statement didn't specify if the attackers Saturday were former Taliban or al-Qaida terrorists. Remnants of those forces -- ousted from power here in late 2001 by the U.S.-led coalition -- have mounted attacks in Afghanistan's border regions with Pakistan.
The remote regions on Afghanistan's frontier have poor communication links and transportation, a possible reason for the confused reports about the battles.
Last week, the U.N. Undersecretary-General for Peacekeeping told the U.N. Security Council that deteriorating security in Afghanistan was a significant obstacle to reconstruction. He claimed that the Taliban have established "de-facto control" in certain border areas, including in Paktika province, site of Saturday's fighting.
The Afghan government strongly rejected the U.N. official's claims that the Taliban have taken control of border regions, and said threats to stability in the country shouldn't be exaggerated.
is there really a difference anymore?
Yep. The Taliban haven't hit the U.S. homeland.
They were 2 CIA contractors killed hunting top al qaeda terrorists. Before joining the CIA they were members of the special forces.
Prayers to all.
I am back watching the local fires here in SoCal!
Really? Did they definitely say "Al Qaeda"?
I imagine at this point most Taliban wish they'd never heard of Osama bin Laden or al Qaeda...
Two CIA contractors participating in operations to root out top Al Qaeda terrorists and members of the deposed Taliban were killed several days ago in eastern Afghanistan, intelligence officials told Fox News.
William Carlson, 43, of Southern Pines, N.C., and Christopher Glenn Mueller, 32, of San Diego, were "tracking terrorists operating in the region" of Shkin, a village in eastern Afghanistan, when they were killed Saturday, the CIA said in a statement.
Both were veterans of military special operations forces, the CIA said.
"William Carlson and Christopher Mueller were defined by dedication and courage," CIA Director George J. Tenet said in a statement. "Their sacrifice for the peoples of the United States and Afghanistan must never be forgotten."
The pair was working for the CIA's Directorate of Operations, which conducts clandestine intelligence-gathering and covert operations.
The CIA statement says the agency consulted with the dead officers' families and decided their names could be released without compromising ongoing operations.
They are the third and fourth CIA operatives that the agency has acknowledged have been killed in the line of duty since the Sept. 11 attacks.
The first, paramilitary officer Johnny Micheal Spann (search), was killed during an uprising of Taliban and Al Qaeda prisoners in northern Afghanistan on Nov. 25, 2001.
The second, Helge Boes, died in a training accident in eastern Afghanistan, on Feb. 5, 2003.
The agency did not provide particulars on the ambush or the two operatives' mission.
The region they were operating in is part of the remote mountainous region along the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan, where Usama bin Laden is thought to be hiding. It is also a stronghold for Al Qaeda, Taliban and other anti-U.S. fighters.
When asked if the men were directly hunting for Laden, one source told Fox News: "We can't talk specifically about who they were hunting down ... but, they were definitely after top bad guys."
I doubt he'd set foot in Afghanistan. It could simply be their general mission was to track him, the Doc and others, but it involved many tactical operations in order to capture/kill/track various terrorists.
I wish they didn't release any of this. Maybe they should've 'hidden' this as 2 soldiers KIA in Afganistan.
Because now the Taliban/Al Qaeda, if they didn't know it before, know we have small teams in Pakistan hunting for them. Now they know what to look out for.
I would not have disclosed their mention.
Authorities arrested three Yemenis suspected of being al Qaeda operatives in Karachi, the sources said. They identified the three as Youswaf bin Zavi, Jawad al Bashir, and a man whose name was given only as Shaban.
They said satellite phones, pistols, and foreign currency were recovered.
With any luck this will lead to yet more captures and or extermination of AQ types.
Bump for that, any time an Afghani or an Iraqi takes on some responsibility for their own freedom.
This happened in Afghanistan. But I guarantee you Al Qaeda already knew these assets were around. They've lost too many terrorists to them.
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