US-led coalition troops conducted an airstrike on Taliban weapon smugglers in southern Afghanistan, as Afghan and NATO-led troops continued their siege of a contested town in the region, officials said yesterday.
Several militants were killed and two civilians were wounded in the coalition airstrike and ensuing operation Sunday in the Musa Qala district of Helmand Province, the coalition said in a statement.
"The combined force detained 10 people suspected of having links to insurgent weapons facilitation networks," it said.
Following the airstrike, the joint Afghan and coalition forces came under attack as they searched compounds in the area.
"Using a combination of accurate, conventional munitions and small arms, the combined force returned fire, killing the militants," the statement said.
In neighboring Sangin district, Afghan police clashed with a group of Taliban militants yesterday, leaving 15 militants dead and 11 wounded, district police chief Mohammad Ali said.
Authorities recovered some of the dead militants' bodies, Ali said. There were no casualties among Afghan troops, he said.
The clashes happened as Afghan, British and US troops closed in on Musa Qala, a Taliban-held town in southern Afghanistan.
A statement from the Afghan Defense Ministry said yesterday the joint forces were 1km away from the town.
On Sunday, the Defense Ministry said that Taliban fighters in Musa Qala should lay down their weapons or face a "wave of attacks."
A Musa Qala resident said Taliban fighters were surrounded and had been pushed back into the town's center. Haji Mohammad Rauf said "fierce fighting" was taking place between the forces.
Taliban militants took over Musa Qala in February, four months after British troops left the town following a contentious peace agreement that gave security responsibilities to Afghan elders.
NATO and Afghan troops have stepped up operations there in recent weeks and appear poised to take back the town from the hundreds of Taliban and foreign fighters who have controlled it this year.
Musa Qala is in northern Helmand Province, the world's largest poppy growing region -- and the frontline of Afghanistan's bloodiest fighting this year.
‘HYANGDO’: A South Korean lawmaker said there was no credible evidence to support rumors that Kim Jong-un has a son with a disability or who is studying abroad South Korea’s spy agency yesterday said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s daughter, Kim Ju-ae, who last week accompanied him on a high-profile visit to Beijing, is understood to be his recognized successor. The teenager drew global attention when she made her first official overseas trip with her father, as he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Analysts have long seen her as Kim’s likely successor, although some have suggested she has an older brother who is being secretly groomed as the next leader. The South Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS) “assesses that she [Kim Ju-ae]
In the week before his fatal shooting, right-wing US political activist Charlie Kirk cheered the boom of conservative young men in South Korea and warned about a “globalist menace” in Tokyo on his first speaking tour of Asia. Kirk, 31, who helped amplify US President Donald Trump’s agenda to young voters with often inflammatory rhetoric focused on issues such as gender and immigration, was shot in the neck on Wednesday at a speaking event at a Utah university. In Seoul on Friday last week, he spoke about how he “brought Trump to victory,” while addressing Build Up Korea 2025, a conservative conference
DEADLOCK: Putin has vowed to continue fighting unless Ukraine cedes more land, while talks have been paused with no immediate results expected, the Kremlin said Russia on Friday said that peace talks with Kyiv were on “pause” as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin still wanted to capture the whole of Ukraine. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said that he was running out of patience with Putin, and the NATO alliance said it would bolster its eastern front after Russian drones were shot down in Polish airspace this week. The latest blow to faltering diplomacy came as Russia’s army staged major military drills with its key ally Belarus. Despite Trump forcing the warring sides to hold direct talks and hosting Putin in Alaska, there
North Korea has executed people for watching or distributing foreign television shows, including popular South Korean dramas, as part of an intensifying crackdown on personal freedoms, a UN human rights report said on Friday. Surveillance has grown more pervasive since 2014 with the help of new technologies, while punishments have become harsher — including the introduction of the death penalty for offences such as sharing foreign TV dramas, the report said. The curbs make North Korea the most restrictive country in the world, said the 14-page UN report, which was based on interviews with more than 300 witnesses and victims who had
RSS