Up to 24 dead in Afghan battle including 2 Marines
Mon May 9, 2005 09:29 AM ET
By Robert Birsel
KABUL (Reuters) - U.S. forces battled insurgents for five hours in eastern Afghan mountains and two Marines and up to 23 rebels were killed, the U.S. military said on Monday.
The latest clash in a wave of violence came shortly before a senior Afghan official called on Taliban rebels, and for the first time their leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, to give up their fight under a government amnesty.
Taliban insurgents have launched a string of attacks in recent weeks after a winter lull raised hope they might be struggling to find recruits and resources and their fight might be fading.
The Marines and insurgents were killed in a battle in Laghman province in the east of the country on Sunday that erupted when U.S. forces were attacked by about 25 gunmen while searching for rebels, the U.S. military said.
A group of fighters took refuge in a cave, which U.S. aircraft attacked.
"The two Marines were killed while clearing the cave area," the U.S. military said in a statement.
A Taliban official, speaking by telephone from an undisclosed location, claimed responsibility for killing the Marines.
"We have asked our Taliban to step up attacks on coalition forces. The first targets are the U.S. and British," the rebel official said.
Taliban attacks have surged despite repeated offers by President Hamid Karzai of an amnesty to rank-and-file members.
Several Taliban members have given up in recent months, including some local-level commanders, but there has been no sign of a flood of defections blunting the insurgency.
"WE WANT PEACE"
The government had previously said the amnesty would not cover militants associated with atrocities or al Qaeda but the man in charge of efforts to persuade rebels to give up said the offer would apply to Omar and another anti-government militant chief, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.
"We want peace with everyone, without exception," former president Sibghatullah Mojaddedi told a news conference, when asked about Omar and Hekmatyar.
"They can put their guns down on the ground, accept the constitution of Afghanistan and obey the government," he said.
Spokesmen for the government were not immediately available for comment.
Omar is among the Islamic militants most wanted by the United States. U.S. forces have been hunting him, Hekmatyar and al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden since invading Afghanistan and driving the Taliban from power in late 2001, in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks.
The United States wholeheartedly supported the government amnesty program but it was not open to everyone, a U.S. military spokesman said.
"It's not a general amnesty," said the spokesman, Colonel Jim Yonts, while declining to comment on what Mojaddedi had said.
"Those who have committed serious crimes are responsible for their actions and are not eligible for the program," he said.
Taliban officials have previously rejected the amnesty offer as propaganda and said their war against foreign troops and the U.S.-backed government would go on.
About 60 insurgents and 10 soldiers and police were killed in two clashes last week in the south of the country, the U.S. military said. Taliban spokesmen denied such high casualties, saying most of the dead were villagers.
In Kabul, a bomb, which authorities suspect was detonated by a suicide attacker, killed three people in an Internet cafe at the weekend, including a U.N. worker from Myanmar. (Additional reporting by Yousuf Azimy and Saeed Ali Achakzai) |
