Looks like our Air Force has waaaaay to much time on it's hands. :>)
January 28, 2003
U.S. Forces Battle Afghan Rebels
By CARLOTTA GALL
[K] ABUL, Afghanistan, Jan. 28 -- In the heaviest fighting in nine months, American and coalition forces are battling a large group of rebel fighters in a mountainous region of southeastern Afghanistan.
Col. Roger King, a spokesman for the U.S. military, said at least 18 rebel fighters had been killed, while no coalition casualties were reported.
The fighting began on Monday while U.S. and Afghan forces were searching a compound near Adi Ghar mountain. They came under fire and in the firefight one attacker was killed, one wounded and one detained. Under questioning, the detained man said there was a as many as 80 fighters commanded by Gulbuddin Helmatyar, a fiery Islamic fundamentalist who has vowed to overthrow President Hamid Karzai's government, in the mountains near the compound.
Col. King said Apache helicopters dispatched to investigate came under small arms. A rapid reaction force of the 82nd Airborne Division responded to attack with air support from B-1 bombers, F-16s and AC-130 gunships.
Col. King said at a daily press briefing this morning that the AC-130s and Apaches were repeatedly engaged and the B-1 bombers dropped two 500-pound and 19 2,000-pounds bombs on the area during 12 hours of fighting.
The rebel fighters, while loyal to Mr. Hekmatyar, have sympathies and possible links to the ousted Taliban and al-Qaida, said Col. King. The rebel group is thought to consist of mainly Afghans who are opposed to the American military presence in Afghanistan and to the government of President Hamid Karzai.
There have been persistent reports in recent months that al-Qaida and Taliban members, together with Mr. Hekmatyar, have been planning new attacks on American and Afghan forces. United Nations officials said that in recent months rebels had been crossing the border from the Pakistan tribal areas and Afghan security officials warned that new attacks were imminent.
Rebels have continued to launch small-scale attacks and fire rockets on American bases and personnel, but the U.S. military has stressed that enemy forces have not appeared capable of any large-scale operations. The rockets they fire rarely hit their targets, and grenade attacks and bombs planted have usually been improvised devices with a small amount of explosive.
The recent fighting is the heaviest since a battle during the U.S.-led Operation Anaconda in March last year when some 2,000 U.S. troops were deployed in eastern Afghanistan. Seven American soldiers were killed and two helicopters were shot down in that battle.
"It's the largest concentration of enemy forces since Operation Anaconda," Col. King. Some of the rebels were dug into caves, he said, a tactic that Taliban and al-Qaida fighters had used in battles last year.
Heavy U.S. bombing finally dislodged them then, but Afghans in the eastern border areas said many of the fighters survived the bombing and managed to withdraw across the border into Pakistan where they found shelter with the local tribal population who are sympathetic to their cause. |
