Six U.S. Soldiers, 3 Afghan Troops Killed- Afghanistan- November 10/2007

[Bruce Monkhouse]

This is all so far.....


http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/War_Terror/2007/09/25/4525412-ap.html


Six NATO soldiers, 3 Afghan troops killed in ambush in eastern Afghanistan

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

KABUL, Afghanistan - NATO says six of its troops are dead after insurgents ambushed one of their patrols in eastern Afghanistan.
Officials also say three afghan troops were killed in the attack.

NATO's International Security Assistance Force says the troops were on foot patrol when militants attacked them with rocket propelled grenades and gunfire.
Another eight NATO troops and 11 Afghans were wounded.

NATO did not release the nationalities of the dead or wounded troops, but the vast majority of its forces in eastern Afghanistan are American.


http://ca.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2007-11-10T092351Z_01_ISL157860_RTRIDST_0_NEWS-AFGHAN-VIOLENCE-COL.XML
NATO and Afghan soldiers killed in ambush
Sat Nov 10, 2007 4:23 AM EST     
By Hamid Shalizi
KABUL (Reuters) - Taliban insurgents killed six troops from the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and three Afghan soldiers in an ambush in eastern Afghanistan, an ISAF spokesman said on Saturday.
It is unusual for such a large number of foreign and Afghan forces to be killed in a single engagement in Afghanistan where ISAF and U.S.-led coalition troops, backed by air power, routinely inflict heavy losses on Taliban insurgents.

"I have sad news to report from regional command east where six ISAF soldiers and three Afghan army were killed by Taliban insurgents in an ambush yesterday," Brigadier General Carlos Branco told a news conference in the Afghan capital, Kabul.
Eight ISAF troops and 11 Afghan soldiers were also wounded in the fighting, which began on Friday when insurgents ambushed their patrol with rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire as the troops were returning from a meeting with local elders.

It was the heaviest loss suffered by ISAF troops in Afghanistan in several months.
Most ISAF troops based in the east of the country are American, but the force was withholding confirmation of the nationalities of the dead soldiers pending notification of next of kin.

Elsewhere, a suicide bomber killed one civilian and wounded three other people in the northern province of Kunduz on Saturday, a provincial security official said.

 

[manhole]

now reporting the six NATO soldiers were Americans......Condolences to all the families and friends of the fallen.......

 

[Mike Baker]

RIP 

 

[tomahawk6]

Six GI's and 3 ANA soldiers were killed in an ambush in Afghanistan.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071110/ap_on_re_as/afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan - Six U.S. troops were killed when insurgents ambushed their foot patrol in the high mountains of eastern Afghanistan, officials said Saturday. The attack, the most lethal against American forces this year, made 2007 the deadliest for U.S. troops in Afghanistan since the 2001 invasion.

The troops were returning from a meeting with village elders late Friday afternoon in Nuristan province when militants attacked them with rocket propelled grenades and gunfire, Lt. Col. David Accetta told The Associated Press.

"They were attacked from several enemy positions at the same time," said Accetta, a spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force and the U.S. military. "It was a complex ambush."

The six deaths brings the total number of U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan this year to at least 101, according to a count by the AP. That makes this year the deadliest for Americans here since the 2001 invasion, a war initially launched to oust Taliban and al-Qaida fighters after the terror attacks of Sept. 11, but one that has evolved into an increasingly bloody counterinsurgency campaign.

The death toll mirrors the situation in Iraq, where U.S. military deaths this month surpassed 850, a record high since the 2003 invasion there.

Three Afghan soldiers were also killed in Friday's ambush, while eight Americans and 11 Afghans were wounded. The 14 total U.S. casualties was the highest number of wounded and killed from a battle in Afghanistan this year, Accetta said.

"With Sunday being Veterans Day, this is a reminder of the sacrifices that our troops and our Afghan partners make for the peace and stability of the Afghan people," Accetta said.

Overall violence in Afghanistan this year has been the deadliest since the Taliban's ouster. More than 5,800 people, mostly militants, have died in insurgency-related violence, according to an AP count based on figures from Afghan and Western officials.

In Friday's fight, aircraft and troops using artillery or mortars at nearby outposts fired on the militants' positions, Accetta said. It wasn't immediately clear how many militants were involved in the ambush, he said.

Mohammad Daoud Nadim, Nuristan deputy police chief, said the ambush happened in the remote province's Waygal district, about 40 miles from the border with Pakistan, which militants are known to use as a sanctuary. Nadim said he had no information on any casualties among the militants.

Arabs and other foreign fighters from Chechnya and Uzbekistan are known to operate in the Nuristan region, but the region's governor, Tamin Nuristani, blamed the attack on Taliban militants. Nuristani said the combined troops searched two houses after the meeting with village elders and were ambushed after while walking to their base afterward.

Nuristan province has seen heavy fighting in recent months. Two U.S. soldiers were killed and 13 wounded by a militant ambush in July, while militants disguised in Afghan army uniforms wounded 11 U.S. troops and killed two Afghan soldiers in August.

The attack on Friday was the deadliest incident for U.S. troops in Afghanistan since a Chinook crashed in February in Zabul province, killing eight Americans. Officials ruled out enemy fire as the cause of that crash.