Afghanistan - Taliban
Taliban linked to French fatalities ‘killed’
Friday 05 September 2008
Two Taliban subcommanders involved in the August 18 attack that killed 10 French soldiers were among a group of insurgents killed in a coalition attack in Afghanistan August 30, according to a statement by the US-led coalition forces.
Friday 05 September 2008
By AFPUS-led Coalition forces in Afghanistan have killed five Taliban subcommanders in recent weeks, including a bomb-maker and two behind the August 18 attack that left 10 French soldiers dead, they said.
"Coalition forces have positively identified five Taliban subcommanders killed during operations over the past month in Kapisa province," the Coalition said in a statement from Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan, and released in Washington.
Among the five were Ahmad Shah and Mullah Rohoullah, killed with six others by airstrikes in Nijrab district on August 30 after coalition forces ran into armed resistance while searching a compound.
Both were heavily involved in helping move weapons and foreign fighters into Afghanistan, the statement said, as well as facilitating Taliban operations, including the August 18 ambush on the French patrol.
Ten French soldiers were killed and another 21 injured in the attack by about 100 Taliban in Sarobi, 50 kilometres (30 miles) east of Kabul.
It was the deadliest ground battle for international soldiers in the country since they toppled the Taliban regime in 2001.
Coalition forces said that on August 23 they killed subcommanders Khairullah Nezami and Qari Ezmarai in Tag Ab district.
Nezami, they said, helped to arrange the making and planting of bombs and coordinated the movement of suicide bombers in the Taliban network.
A fifth subcommander, Qari Nejat, was killed together with four additional insurgents in an operation in Nijrab district on August 5.
The Coalition linked Nejat with the July 21 suicide bombing in the Tag Ab bazaar that injured six Afghans, the July 16 kidnapping of three Afghan policemen in Jalokhel, and the torture and beheading of an Afghan on June 30.
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ANALYSIS
"Things have changed with the death of these ten soldiers in Afghanistan last week" - FRANCE 24's David Crossan, 26/08/08
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IN THE FIELD
"There was no friendly fire from the American fighter-bombers that came to their aid" - FRANCE 24's Robert Parson, 26/08/08
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28/08/2008 01:11:16 Alert a moderator
French soldiers mistaken - n'est-ce pas?
By Anonyme - USA Washington
So the wounded French soldiers reported in le Monde were mistaken? They were only pinned down for a mere 20 minutes before help arrived, and not 4 hours as they suggested. They claim they were hit by small arms, machine guns, & IED's - they didnt mention anything about mortars - they must have missed that bit. They only had rifles to defend themselves & soon ran out of ammunition (in 20 minutes NOT 4 hours?) And they were only 30 miles from Kabul in a supposedly safe area yet over 100 Taliban managed to assemble & ambush them? And yet there were US A-10 Warthogs only minutes away at the base in Surobi? Something stinks here! Either some were killed & injured by NATO planes by accident or these young soldiers were hung out to dry by an incompetent officer corps at the beck & call of the political class which supports the US Empire building activities. Either way the French public need some explanations
27/08/2008 00:11:23 Alert a moderator
mortars not bombs?
By Anonyme - USA Washington
So you are saying that the French soldiers who told Le Monde that they were accidentally bombed by NATO planes were in fact mistaken, and it just happened that the mortars landed on them at precisely same time as the NATO jets flew over the area? Why havent we heard this version from the soldiers themselves?
27/08/2008 17:04:57 Alert a moderator
Either mortal.
By Musashy - France/Paris
The explosion which killed french troops were heavy mortal shots, the use of those weapon makes us think that we have been sold by a spy in the Afghan Nationnal Army.
27/08/2008 02:19:21 Alert a moderator
Deaths of 10 French soldiers in Afghanistan
By Anonyme - Washington,USA
So let me get this correct - the story in Le Monde newspaper which interviewed French soldiers who claimed they were bombed accidentally by NATO planes was either
a) A pack of lies - the newspaper & the soldier interviewed deliberately told an untruth - a very serious offence and worthy of a public inquiry
or b) a simple mistake was made - the soldier couldnt tell if his comrades had been killed by small arms fire rather than high explosive bombs?
Either way something doesnt quite add up here
26/08/2008 18:51:58 Alert a moderator
No french soldier died because of friendly fire
By Musashy - France/Paris
Don t worry, you never bombed our troops.
The distance between french and taliban soldiers where very low and the air strike which aimed to allow french to escape were canceled. The 10 french heroes were killed by enemy's fire only. No mistakes were comited by NATO's forces.
I hope our dead brothers will rest in peace, and all the others all over the world too.
26/08/2008 12:08:45 Alert a moderator
French soldiers killed in Afghanistan
By Anonyme - Washington, USA
Has France 24 checked out the valitity of stories on the internet that some of the 10 soldiers recently killed in Afghanistan were the victims of 'friendly fire' when they were accidentally bombed by NATO planes?