6 US troops, 12 civilians killed in Afghan attacks

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6 US troops, 12 civilians killed in Afghan attacks

By RAHIM FAIEZ, Associated Press Writer Rahim Faiez, Associated Press Writer – 2

hrs 40 mins ago

KABUL, Afghanistan – Six American service members and at least a dozen civilians

died in attacks Saturday in Afghanistan's volatile east and south, adding to a

summer of escalating violence as Taliban militants push back against stepped-up

operations by international and Afghan forces.

NATO said four U.S. service members died in the east: One as a result of

small-arms fire, another by a roadside bomb, a third during an insurgent attack

and the last in an accidental explosion. Two other U.S. troops died in separate

roadside bombings in southern Afghanistan. Their deaths raised to 23 the number

of American troops killed so far this month in the war.

Also, unknown gunmen killed 11 Pakistani Shia tribesmen in the east and at least

one person died when a bomb planted on a motorbike exploded in Kandahar city in

the south, officials said.

Explosions also hit two convoys of international troops in different parts of

the country, with Germany saying two of its troops were wounded by a roadside

bomb in the northern province of Kunduz. Another explosion targeted NATO troops

in Khost in the east, but the alliance said there were no casualties.

Afghan and international forces also said a combined commando unit killed a

Taliban operative and captured eight others in an overnight raid in Paktia

province in the east, though local villagers claimed the men were innocent

civilians. In the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, thousands of Afghan's staged

an anti-U.S. protest over another night raid that killed two security guards.

Insurgent attacks have intensified across the country and the international

coalition has been stepping up raids to root out militant leaders as 30,000 more

American troops arrive to try to turn around the war and build a stable Afghan

government nine years after U.S.-backed forces toppled the Taliban's hard-line

Islamist regime.

Last month was the deadliest of the war for the multinational force, with 103

international troops killed, 60 of them Americans.

A remotely detonated motorcycle bomb killed one person Saturday in Kandahar

city, the spiritual birthplace of the Taliban, authorities said.

The blast set cars ablaze and shattered windows at a popular shopping center.

One man was killed as he drove by in a car just as the bomb exploded, the

provincial government said in a statement.

The province is the site of a U.S.-led military operation to strengthen

government control.

In the eastern border province of Paktia, unidentified gunmen killed 11

Pakistanis who had crossed into Afghanistan to buy supplies, according to

Rohullah Samon, spokesman for the provincial governor.

Samon said 11 Shia minority Muslim tribesmen died and three people, including a

child, were wounded in the ambush of their minibus in Chamkani district.

Elsewhere in Paktia, a combined Afghan-coalition commando force raided a

compound in Ahmad Abad district overnight, killing one person and arresting nine

others, officials said.

The Ministry of Defense said the elite force killed an insurgent operative and

captured eight others with weapons. The ninth person arrested was determined to

be a civilian and turned over to local authorities, it said in a statement.

Paktia spokesman Samon complained that local authorities were not informed of

the raid. He said villagers protested outside government offices Saturday,

saying the dead man and those captured were innocent civilians. They promised a

larger demonstration the next day if the eight prisoners were not released.

Combined coalition and Afghan forces have been stepping up night raids across

the country trying to break up Taliban leadership and operations capability.

In the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, more than 1,000 people protested

Saturday against the deaths of two security guards in another night raid near a

market.

The crowd chanted " Death to America! Long live Islam! " Protesters said the

security guards were unjustly killed when combined Afghan and international

forces landed by helicopter at the bazaar before dawn Wednesday.

NATO spokesman Col. Wayne Shanks said the two guards were shot when they raised

their weapons at the commandos and refused orders to put them down. He said the

raid succeeded in capturing a Taliban operative who supplied bomb-making

material.

The coalition says the new wave of raids has captured more than 100 senior- and

midlevel Taliban figures since April and killed dozens more. But the success

rate has not made much of a dent in insurgent attacks.

On Saturday, an explosion tore through a NATO convoy traveling in the eastern

province of Khost, though no one was killed. The German army later said two of

its soldiers were slightly wounded by a roadside bomb in the northern province

of Kunduz — the second homemade explosive attack on German troops in the area

that day.

NATO's International Security Assistance Force has been in Afghanistan since

shortly after the fall of the Taliban in 2001, when U.S.-backed forces toppled

the regime that sheltered the al-Qaida terrorist leadership following the Sept.

11 attacks in the United States.

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Associated Press Writer Mirwais Khan in Kandahar contributed to this report.