Fifty-five insurgents, NATO soldier killed in Afghanistan


Mon Oct 30, 2:09 PM ET




NATO soldiers killed 55 insurgents in an intense battle in southern Afghanistan, in which a foreign soldier also died, the force said.


War planes were called in to asst troops on the ground in the six-hour sporadic firefight in the southern province of Zabul in which another 20 rebels were wounded, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in a statement.


ISAF does not release the nationalities of its casualties, leaving that to the soldiers' home nations.


Most of the troops in Zabul are US nationals, who make up around half of the more than 110 foreign soldiers killed in action in Afghanistan this year.


An ISAF patrol "decisively engaged and killed 55 insurgents and wounded 20 more earlier today in the Daychopan district of Zabul province," the statement said.


It was the second major battle in the area in as many days.


Afghan and ISAF troops killed up to 70 insurgents in a battle involving attack helicopters and air support in neighbouring Uruzgan province on Saturday.


An ISAF soldier was killed and eight wounded in a separate attack in Uruzgan Saturday but the nationalities of the troops involved still have not been released. ISAF has based Australian and Dutch soldiers in the province.


Monday's operation "will help to defeat those who threaten security and the onset of further reconstruction and development in the region," the ISAF statement said.


The 37-nation force aims to stabilise Afghanistan so that its war-shattered infrastructure can be built up and the country can leave behind the lawlessness that allowed the extremist Taliban come to power in 2001.


The Taliban sheltered the Al-Qaeda terror network behind the September 11, 2001 attacks, which led the United States to invade Afghanistan when the hardline regime did not hand over Al-Qaeda leaders.


The NATO alliance, in the most ambitious military operation in its history, has faced intense fighting here.


In another clash announced Monday, ISAF said three of its soldiers were wounded Sunday when they were attacked by rebels in the volatile Kunar province near the border with Pakistan.


A purported Taliban spokesman reportedly said that fighters with the extremist movement had carried out the attack.


The area is close to the region of Pakistan where military helicopter gunships destroyed Monday an Islamic school used as an Al-Qaeda-linked training camp, killing up to 80 militants, officials and witnesses said.


The movement of militants across the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan is one of Kabul's main concerns, with officials saying the fighters are feeding the insurgency that is crippling the country.


Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AFP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Agence France Presse.



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W00T!  Keep it up guys and gals!

Thanks for the heads up, NME.

A good start, now finish the rest of em

I wonder if we have ever fought a war with this high a kill ratio?  (without a nuke)

Keep running up the score!!!

It's a shame that if this effort would have killed Zawahiri (sp?) that the left would complain that it was just done to sway the election

Good job Nato!

Quoted: I wonder if we have ever fought a war with this high a kill ratio?  (without a nuke) Keep running up the score!!!

It's not all that high in Iraq. We have lost 2800 brave souls (Probably 2000 or so to combat, the rest to accidents) and the enemy has lost about 4,000. It isn't known how many enemy Iraqi Ba'athists or sectarian fighters are dead. The nutjobs on the political left claim 662k Iraqi civilians have been killed, (they should have just claimed 10 million were killed, it's just as believable) but a far likelier number is in the 30k range.

I've always been of the opinion that we need a government office with the purpose of propagating the truth about the GWOT.  If such a position were to exist, I'd nominate NME for that position.

Keep up the great work, Alex.

Quoted: NATO soldiers killed 55 insurgents in an intense battle in southern Afghanistan, in which a foreign soldier also died, the force said.

Alright, now go kill more Durka Durkistanis!

Paradize is running out of virgins.