Rebels fired rockets at a military base in Afghanistan, killing two US service members and wounding eight as they were unloading supplies from a helicopter, in one of the bloodiest assaults against American forces since insurgents ramped up their fighting in March.
The killings Wednesday came a day after the country's government warned that Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters had launched a campaign of violence to undermine legislative elections set for September.
US war planes and helicopters rushed to the area around the base in Shkin, 7km from the border with Pakistan, to hunt for the attackers, but found no trace of them, US spokesman Jerry O'Hara said.
The wounded were flown to US-led coalition bases for treatment, he said.
An initial military statement said mortars had hit the base, but O'Hara later said an investigation had found the attackers had fired four rockets.
"This was a serious attack against coalition forces," O'Hara said. "Security is not as good as it should be. But when you look at it over the course of months, incidents are on the decline. But that doesn't appear to be the case today."
He said the victims were part of a mission along the border "preventing foreign fighters from entering into this country to derail the peace process."
Militants based in tribal regions on the Pakistani side of the mountainous border often cross into Afghanistan to launch attacks, according to Afghan officials. Seventeen suspected Taliban rebels were captured in the border area Monday.
The name of the dead service members and the branch of the military they worked for were withheld until their families were notified.
The deaths brought to 148 the number of US service members killed in and around Afghanistan since "Operation Enduring Freedom" began in 2001, according to Pentagon figures.
Wednesday's killings came five days after two other US forces were killed and another wounded when a bomb exploded near a military convoy, also in eastern Afghanistan near the border.
Even though US officials remain upbeat about progress toward peace, there has been a steep rise in bombings, shootings and other killings since spring's warmer weather melted thick snow on mountain passes the rebels use.
Over 800 Iraqi civilians have been killed since the swearing-in of the new Iraqi government.
US and Iraqi forces have hit back hard, killing more than 200 suspected rebels since March, according to US and Afghan officials.
A spokesman for President Hamid Karzai, Jawed Ludin, claimed Tuesday that al-Qaeda and Taliban rebels launched a violent campaign last week to subvert Sept. 18 legislative elections -- the next key step toward democracy three years after US-led forces ousted the Taliban for harboring Osama bin Laden.
Meanwhile, the Afghan government reported Wednesday that negotiations to free a kidnapped Italian aid worker were "close to a conclusion."
Clementina Cantoni, who works for CARE International, was abducted by armed men on May 16 as she was being driven to her home in the capital, Kabul.
"The negotiations are ongoing ... we are close to a conclusion. We are very optimistic," Interior Ministry spokesman Latfullah Mashal told reporters.
A beauty queen who pulled out of the Miss South Africa competition when her nationality was questioned has said she wants to relocate to Nigeria, after coming second in the Miss Universe pageant while representing the West African country. Chidimma Adetshina, whose father is Nigerian, was crowned Miss Universe Africa and Oceania and was runner-up to Denmark’s Victoria Kjar Theilvig in Mexico on Saturday night. The 23-year-old law student withdrew from the Miss South Africa competition in August, saying that she needed to protect herself and her family after the government alleged that her mother had stolen the identity of a South
BELT-TIGHTENING: Chinese investments in Cambodia are projected to drop to US$35 million in 2026 from more than US$420 million in 2021 At a ceremony in August, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet knelt to receive blessings from saffron-robed monks as fireworks and balloons heralded the breaking of ground for a canal he hoped would transform his country’s economic fortunes. Addressing hundreds of people waving the Cambodian flag, Hun Manet said China would contribute 49 percent to the funding of the Funan Techo Canal that would link the Mekong River to the Gulf of Thailand and reduce Cambodia’s shipping reliance on Vietnam. Cambodia’s government estimates the strategic, if contentious, infrastructure project would cost US$1.7 billion, nearly 4 percent of the nation’s annual GDP. However, months later,
HOPEFUL FOR PEACE: Zelenskiy said that the war would ‘end sooner’ with Trump and that Ukraine must do all it can to ensure the fighting ends next year Russia’s state-owned gas company Gazprom early yesterday suspended gas deliveries via Ukraine, Vienna-based utility OMV said, in a development that signals a fast-approaching end of Moscow’s last gas flows to Europe. Russia’s oldest gas-export route to Europe, a pipeline dating back to Soviet days via Ukraine, is set to shut at the end of this year. Ukraine has said it would not extend the transit agreement with Russian state-owned Gazprom to deprive Russia of profits that Kyiv says help to finance the war against it. Moscow’s suspension of gas for Austria, the main receiver of gas via Ukraine, means Russia now only
‘HARD-HEADED’: Some people did not evacuate to protect their property or because they were skeptical of the warnings, a disaster agency official said Typhoon Man-yi yesterday slammed into the Philippines’ most populous island, with the national weather service warning of flooding, landslides and huge waves as the storm sweeps across the archipelago nation. Man-yi was still packing maximum sustained winds of 185kph after making its first landfall late on Saturday on lightly populated Catanduanes island. More than 1.2 million people fled their homes ahead of Man-yi as the weather forecaster warned of a “life-threatening” effect from the powerful storm, which follows an unusual streak of violent weather. Man-yi uprooted trees, brought down power lines and smashed flimsy houses to pieces after hitting Catanduanes in the typhoon-prone
RSS