NATO soldier, 14 Taliban fighters killed in Afghanistan
By DPA, IANSTuesday, June 1, 2010
KABUL - A NATO soldier was killed in a roadside bomb blast in southern Afghanistan, while Afghan and NATO forces killed 14 Taliban fighters in the country’s north, officials said Tuesday.
The alliance military did not disclose the nationality of the deceased, nor did it say where exactly in southern Afghanistan the incident took place. Most of the foreign troops stationed in the region are from the United States, Britain, Canada and the Netherlands.
Separately, Afghan and NATO forces killed 13 Taliban fighters and detained a dozen others in an operation in the Baghlan-e-Markazi district of the northern province of Baghlan, Sayed Zamanuddin Monday night, the deputy provincial police chief said.
One more insurgent was killed and two others were injured in a separate clash in the neighbouring province of Kunduz, Mohammad Razaq Yaqoubi, the provincial police chief of Kunduz said.
The Taliban are active in the previously peaceful provinces of Kunduz and Baghlan. Afghan and NATO troops launched a major operation in the region aimed at clearing the area of the militants.
In the capital, Kabul, the Afghan interior ministry said in a statement Tuesday that its forces arrested three suspected “foreign terrorists” in the centre of the city before they were able to carry out any attacks.
The men - a Pakistani, A Tajik and a Russian who were arrested Sunday - received training in Pakistani tribal areas, the statement charged.
The report about the arrests came a day before a major assembly, known as peace jirga, is to be convened in Kabul Wednesday.
Around 1,600 leaders, tribal elders, religious scholars, representatives of civil society and members of rights groups are expected to attend the three-day-jirga.
The participants are expected to produce a blueprint for peace talks and decide who can take part.
Wary of militants attacks, Afghan forces tightened security around the capital city by erecting new checkpoints and deploying around 12,000 additional forces to in and around the city. NATO and Afghan helicopters also patrolled the capital.
