GIS SLAY ASSASSINS TO SAVE AFGHAN PREZ

New York Post ^ | 9/06/02 | NILES LATHEM

[kattracks]

September 6, 2002 -- WASHINGTON - Heroic U.S. Special Forces commandos yesterday wiped out a three-man hit team that narrowly missed assassinating Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Wearing vests and Afghan headdresses, the bearded, heavily armed Special Forces squad members jumped out of a jeep and killed the three gunmen - including one wearing an Afghan army uniform - in a dramatic gun battle just moments after the would-be assassins fired four shots into Karzai's car in Kandahar.

[kattracks]

[my_pointy_head_is_sharp]

Thanks for posting this. I heard the story on the news, but there was no mention of U.S. commandos killing the attackers. I heard the story this morning, so maybe they didn't have that important detail yet.

[infowarrior]

I wonder how you would say, "Mess with the best, die like the rest!", in Pashtun?

the infowarrior

[Norman Arbuthnot]

The United States had assigned about 20 members of the elite Special Forces to join with Karzai's Northern Alliance bodyguards after the discovery of another assassination plot by Karzai's former security guards in July.

What, if anything, did Karzai's "Northern Alliance bodyguards" do?

Kudos to the SF! Security detail for Karzai does not sound like real desirable assignment.

[Prodigal Son]

What, if anything, did Karzai's "Northern Alliance bodyguards" do?

Well, I suppose they learned how easy it is to die a quick death if you mess with the wrong ones...

[MedicalMess]

Sounds to me like Afghan President Hamid Karzai lucked out here. I would not be jumping up and down over foiling this plot. The would-be assassin got off four rounds and actually hit one target. This should be viewed as more of a failure than a success.

[kattracks]

Karzai alive= success.
Karzai dead= failure.

[mewzilla]

According to FNC this morning, the soldier who attmpted to kill Karzai had only been in the Afghan army three weeks. How did a raw recruit end up on Karzai's security detail? Sounds to me like there might be some more people to weed out.

[Henk]

How do they know there were three assassins?

Because that's how many the GIs killed.