Afghan, US forces launch pre-vote operation in Taliban heartland

September 30th, 2009 KABUL - A US soldier was killed Wednesday when a suicide bomber attacked his convoy in southeastern Afghanistan, while Afghan and foreign troops killed 22 Taliban militants in a joint operation in the west of the country, officials said. A US military spokesman in Kabul said that one US serviceman died from injuries he sustained in a roadside bomb blast in the southeastern province of Khost Wednesday morning.

September 16th, 2009 NATO says 3 US service members die in Afghan blastKABUL — Three U.S. service members died when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan, a NATO spokesman said Wednesday.

August 13th, 2009 KABUL - Three British soldiers serving in a NATO-led international military force were killed by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan, officials said Monday. The soldiers died Sunday during a military patrol in the Sangin district of volatile Helmand province, the British defence ministry said in a statement.

August 13th, 2009 Karzai orders Afghan forces election cease-fireKABUL — Afghanistan's president says he's ordering Afghan security forces to observe a cease-fire during the upcoming election day. Hamid Karzai also demanded Taliban fighters not carry out violence during next Thursday's vote.

August 4th, 2009 KABUL - Fifteen militants were killed in fighting with the security forces in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province Tuesday, the Afghan Army said. "Troops conducted a commando operation in Marja village of Nadali district Tuesday morning, as a result 15 insurgents were killed and eight others were captured," a military official said.

July 7th, 2009 LONDON - The US marines along with Afghan troops have not received much resistance from the Taliban since the allied force launched a massive operation named Khanjar, or 'sword strike' against the insurgents in the southern Helmand river valley of Afghanistan, but now the Taliban has vowed to teach the security forces a lesson. The operation, which was launched five days ago, hardly saw the Taliban resisting the 5000 men strong allied force, and US Commanders hoped that the massive push will force the extremists to enter talks with the government, but the Taliban has some other plans.

June 14th, 2009 KABUL - Afghan security forces backed by US-led coalition forces killed 19 Taliban militants in Paktika province of eastern Afghanistan, an official said Saturday. "The operation, began Friday morning, left 19 militants dead so far including their commander Mohibullha," spokesman of provincial administration Hamidullah Zuwak said.

June 11th, 2009 KABUL - An Afghan Army soldier and more than 50 militants were killed in separate clashes in Afghanistan as the Taliban have stepped their country-wide attacks, officials said Thursday. In the latest operation, Afghan forces backed by international troops Thursday killed 25 Taliban militants, including foreign fighters, and wounded 10 others in a firefight in Bala Murghab district of the western Badghis province, the Afghan defence ministry said in a statement.

June 7th, 2009 LAHORE - Pakistan's political and defence analyst Ejaz Haider has predicted that the Pakistan Army would soon launch a military operation in Waziristan, the "centre of gravity" for the Taliban. The Daily Times quoted Haider as saying that the military operation is inevitable, as it is essential to neutralize the Taliban's power in the tribal agencies of North and South Waziristan.

May 30th, 2009 KABUL - Twenty-four people, including 18 suspected Taliban insurgents, were killed as fighting flared up in Afghanistan's northwest Badghis province, its governor said Saturday. "Taliban fighters ambushed a unit of national army soldiers in Balamurghab district Friday and troops returned fire, leaving 18 Taliban rebels dead," Governor Dulbar Jan Arman told Xinhua.

May 27th, 2009 KABUL - Five Taliban militants were killed and 10 others arrested in special operations by Afghan and US-led coalition forces in southwestern Afghanistan, a military statement said. In the first operation, the combined forces raided a building in a village in Logar province to capture a Haqqani group commander responsible for planning improvised explosive device attacks and facilitating suicide bombers, the statement said.

May 17th, 2009 KABUL - Six Afghan police personnel and six Taliban militants have been killed in two separate clashes in southern Afghanistan, officials said Sunday. In one incident, Taliban fighters Sunday raided a police check post in southern Helmand province, killing six police personnel.

May 3rd, 2009 KABUL - Four civilians, including two children, were killed in a bomb blast in southern Afghanistan, while four Afghan army soldiers and 31 Taliban militants were killed elsewhere in the country, officials said Sunday. In the latest incident, an eight-year-old girl and a 10-year-old boy and two adult civilians were killed in Gerishk district of southern Helmand province Sunday morning.

March 31st, 2009 KABUL - An Afghan provincial mayor was killed in a roadside bomb blast in eastern Afghanistan, while 34 suspected Taliban militants were killed in separate clashes and blasts elsewhere in the country, officials said Tuesday. A remote-controlled roadside bomb was detonated on the outskirts of Khost city, the capital for the province of the same name, Tuesday afternoon when the provincial mayor was on his way home, Hamidullah Qalandarzai, the provincial governor said.

December 22nd, 2008 KABUL - Six Taliban militants have been killed and three others detained in an operation carried out by the coalition forces near the Afghan capital, officials said Tuesday. The operation was carried out in Surobi district of Kabul province Monday, a coalition forces statement said.