Suicide bombers attack in Afghan

Suicide bombers attack in Afghan

Six suicide bombers explosive vests stormed a provincial governor's compound in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday, killing 22 people in attack to target prominent Afghan government officials, said.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in the Parwan provincial capital of Charikar, north of Kabul.

The province is home to Bagram Air Field, a sprawling base for US and NATO troops.

The coordinated assault is the most recent in a string of spectacular Taliban attacks within an hour's drive of Kabul, near the heart of the country and its determination to target Afghanistan's nascent leadership.

Early this month, the Taliban shot down a helicopter in a province on the western border of the capital, killing 38 American and Afghan troops.

In late June, gunmen killed at least 21 people in an attack on the Inter-Continental hotel in Kabul itself.

The violence is a sign of NATO's broader struggles in the east, where persistent insurgent attacks forced the alliance to pull forces back from outlying patrol bases and outposts.

Move forces from Taliban heartlands in the south to reinforce troops fighting insurgents in the east that’s the coalition, which plans to send 10,000 troops home by the end of the year.

Taliban insurgents shooting down a U.S. helicopter

Taliban insurgents shooting down a U.S. helicopter

 

Taliban insurgents responsible for shooting down a U.S. helicopter and killing 38 U.S. the top American commander in Afghanistan said Wednesday. They are still seeking the top insurgent leader they were going after in Saturday's mission that’s International forces killed.

Marine Corps Gen. John Allen told a Pentagon news conference that an F-16 air strike Monday took out fewer than 10 insurgents involved in the attack on the Chinook helicopter.

In a separate statement Wednesday, the military said the Monday strike killed Taliban leader Mullah Mohibullah and the insurgent who fired the rocket-propelled grenade at the helicopter.

The military said intelligence gained on the ground provided a high degree of confidence that the insurgent who fired the grenade was the person killed.

Allen defended the decision to send in the Chinook loaded with special-operations forces to pursue insurgents escaping from the weekend firefight with Army Rangers in a dangerous region of Wardak province of eastern Afghanistan.

The helicopter was shot down by a rocket-propelled grenade, Allen said the military's investigation into the crash will also review whether small-arms fire or other causes contributed to the crash.

According to officials, the team included 17 SEALs, five Navy special-operations troops who support the SEALs, three Air Force airmen, a five-member Army air crew and a military dog, along with seven Afghan commandos and an Afghan interpreter.

The release had been in question because the dead were mostly covert special-operations forces from the Navy and Air Force.

The investigation comes as the remains of the troops killed in the crash were returned Tuesday in an operation the names of the fallen and denied media coverage of the arrival at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.