US bomber, choppers back Afghans in border clash
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-08-02 23:17

Afghan forces backed by an American bomber and attack helicopters clashed with around 50 suspected Taliban fighters near the Pakistani border Monday, and the U.S. military said the militants suffered "heavy losses."

In one of the biggest recent battles between Afghan and allied U.S. forces and Islamic militants opposed to the government in Kabul, at least two Afghan soldiers and two suspected Taliban fighters were killed, a local commander said.

An Afghan soldier stands guard near an anti-aircraft weapon ready to be handed over as part of nationwide program called Disarmament Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) in Logar, about 31 miles south from Kabul, Afghanistan, on Monday, Aug. 2, 2004. [AP]

Separately, an Afghan soldier was killed Sunday night when suspected Taliban militants opened fire from a motorcycle on a car being used for voter registration in the southern province of Helmand, officials said. The fighting south of Khost, in the district of Gurbuz a few miles from the Pakistan border, started at 2 a.m. and continued for several hours.

"A B-1 bomber, two A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft and four AH-1 Cobra helicopters provided air support," said U.S. Major Rick Peat in an emailed response to questions about the clash.

"The militants retreated in panic and were pursued by the attack aircraft," he said.

Afghan forces backed by A-10 "tank buster" aircraft clashed with around 50 militants again four to five hours later.

"Again, the militants retreated after incurring heavy losses," Peat said. "One Khost Provincial Force (soldier) died and three were wounded in this second engagement."

However, General Khialbaz Sherzai, commander of the Afghan army's 25th Division in Khost, told Reuters a total of two Afghan soldiers were killed and two wounded, while two Taliban militants were also killed and one suspected Arab fighter captured.

FLEEING TO PAKISTAN?

Sherzai said his forces saw dozens of wounded militants crossing into Pakistan, where members of Afghanistan's ousted Taliban as well as foreign militants with links to al Qaeda are said to be active.

Pakistan denies Afghan accusations that its territory is being used as a sanctuary by militants.

The drive-by shooting near Helmand's provincial capital of Lashkar Gah was the latest in a series of attacks on election workers in Afghanistan.

The two gunmen carrying AK-47s escaped on a motorcycle, said Haji Mohammad Wali, spokesman for the Helmand governor.

The ousted Taliban and their allies have vowed to disrupt elections in October and April, and more than 900 people have been killed in the past year amid mounting violence.

But that has not stopped 8.7 million people, or nearly 90 percent of the estimated eligible electorate, from registering to vote, according to the latest U.N. figures. Of those registered, 41 percent were women.

Afghanistan plans to send between 5,000 and 9,000 soldiers from its fledgling national army to the provinces to help secure the election process, U.S. military spokesman Major Jon Siepmann told a regular news briefing.

The Afghan National Army is 13,500-strong and aims to have 16,000 soldiers in time for the Oct. 9 presidential poll.

The Taliban were overthrown by a U.S.-led war in 2001 after they failed to hand over al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, prime suspect in the Sept. 11 attacks that year.

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