Crush 'em, lads.
Posted on 11/18/2007 3:38:53 PM PST by Clive
SANGESAR, Afghanistan -- Canadian and Afghan troops pushed into a Taliban heartland in southern Afghanistan, fought off fierce counter-attacks and fortified an outpost on Sunday to stay in the area.
An Afghan Defence Ministry spokesman said at least 12 Taliban fighters were killed and another 15 wounded in the fighting for control of the Sangesar district, where fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar once lived and preached at a local mosque.
Canadian troops have fought the Taliban for control of the area, west of the biggest southern city Kandahar, for more than a year with each side seizing then losing the same ground several times.
But this time, dozens of tanks and armoured vehicles followed the troops into the area to fortify two seized civilian compounds and stay in the Sangesar district.
The operation began on Friday night with around 100 Canadian and some 50 Afghan troops driving a spearhead into the area under cover of darkness and seizing the compounds. By morning the troops were surrounded by Taliban and fighting at close quarters.
"It was pretty hectic yesterday. At one point we were taking fire from north, south, east and west," said Canadian infantryman Jerome Deschenes.
Artillery and airstrikes were called in to break the Taliban counter attack. "We were in a really sticky situation," said Deschenes. "Thank God for the artillery and air cover."
The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) released no figures on the Taliban casualties figures, but soldiers involved in the fighting said at least 10 Taliban had been shot dead and more killed by artillery fire.
Military sources said "quite a few" mid-level Taliban field commanders had been killed in the fighting.
The Taliban commander in the area, Mullah Ulfat, said six of his fighters had been killed and three wounded but the rebels had inflicted heavy casualties on Afghan and foreign forces.
More than six years after U.S.-led and Afghan troops drove the Taliban from power for harbouring al Qaeda leader after the Sept. 11 attacks, Afghanistan still suffers from daily violence.
Analysts say the 2003 war in Iraq and its aftermath meant political and military chiefs "took their eye off the ball" in Afghanistan allowing the Taliban to regroup and relaunch their insurgency two years ago. At least 7,000 people have been killed since.
To the north of Kandahar, the Taliban hanged five Afghan policemen from trees in the Deh Rawud district of Uruzgan province on Sunday, provincial police chief Juma Gul Hemat said.
Meanwhile, a suicide car bomber rammed his vehicle into a convoy of foreign forces in the Girishk district of Helmand province on Sunday but no one was wounded, provincial police chief Hussain Andiwal said.
Elsewhere, two Afghan policemen and three insurgents were killed when the Taliban attacked a police patrol in the Qarabagh district of Ghazni province, southwest of Kabul, the local intelligence chief, Mohammad Zamaan, said.
Further south, 11 insurgents and one Afghan soldier were killed when Taliban attacked a joint foreign and Afghan military convoy in the Shah Joy district of Zabul province on Saturday, said Qasim Khan a police official in the district.
Artillery ping.
Thanks for pointing that out, Fubar O'Reilly.
There is a word you often see, pronounce it as you may -
'You bike,' 'you bikwe,' 'ubbikwe' - alludin' to R.A.
It serves 'Orse, Field, an' Garrison as motto for a crest,
An' when you've found out all it means I'll tell you 'alf the rest.
Ubique means the long-range Krupp be'ind the low-range 'ill -
Ubique means you'll pick it up an', while you do stand, still.
Ubique means you've caught the flash an' timed it by the sound.
Ubique means five gunners' 'ash before you've loosed a round.
Ubique means Blue Fuse1, an' make the 'ole to sink the trail. 1extreme range
Ubique means stand up an' take the Mauser's 'alf-mile 'ail.
Ubique means the crazy team not God nor man can 'old.
Ubique means that 'orse's scream which turns your innards cold.
Ubique means 'Bank, 'Olborn, Bank - a penny all the way -
The soothin' jingle-bump-an'-clank from day to peaceful day.
Ubique means 'They've caught De Wet, an' now we sha'n't be long.'
Ubique means 'I much regret, the beggar's going strong!'
Ubique means the tearin' drift where, breech-blocks jammed with mud,
The khaki muzzles duck an' lift across the khaki flood.
Ubique means the dancing plain that changes rocks to Boers.
Ubique means the mirage again an' shellin' all outdoors.
Ubique means 'Entrain at once for Grootdefeatfontein'!
Ubique means 'Off-load your guns' - at midnight in the rain!
Ubique means 'More mounted men. Return all guns to store.'
Ubique means the R.A.M.R. Infantillery Corps!
Ubique means the warnin' grunt the perished linesman knows,
When o'er 'is strung an' sufferin' front the shrapnel sprays 'is foes,
An' as their firin' dies away the 'usky whisper runs
From lips that 'aven't drunk all day: 'The Guns! Thank Gawd, the Guns!'
Extreme, depressed, point-blank or short, end-first or any'ow,
From Colesberg Kop to Quagga's Poort - from Ninety-Nine till now -
There's nothin' this side 'Eaven or 'Ell Ubique doesn't mean!
-
“To the Afghan neither life, property, law, nor
kingship are sacred when his own lusts prompt him to rebel. He is a thief by instinct, a murderer by heredity and training, and frankly and bestially immoral by all three. None the less he has his own crooked notions of honour, and his character is fascinating to study. On occasion he will fight without reason given till he is hacked in pieces;
on other occasions he will refuse to show fight till he is driven into a corner. Herein he is as unaccountable as the gray wolf, who is his blood-brother.”
I ‘ll bet you know who wrote that!
Great job Canuks!
(However, the next time, it may be a little easier go for you if you sent the tanks in ahead of the troops.)
:)
Rudyard Kipling, "The Amir's Homily".
” Rudyard Kipling, “The Amir’s Homily”.”
When I was 18, likely much younger, I knew that. I’ll bet you did too. Do you suppose there are many 18 year olds who know that today?
No wonder the West is a mess!
I thank you for that - Ubique.
Ummmm, how did the writer get an interview with the Taliban leader? Strange....
Hi, AAC! Do you want butter or jam on that toast? =)
Dry. :-)
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