PESHAWAR,
Pakistan, June 3 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - The ousted
Taliban regime claimed responsibility for killing four U.S. soldiers
and injuring two others in a missile attack on a U.S. outpost in the
Afghan state of Konar.
In
a statement published by local newspapers in Peshawar, Taliban said
the attack came in retaliation for martyr Nematullah, a Taliban combat
leader gunned down by U.S. troops last week.
The
statement, signed by Taliban spokesman in Konar Mawlawi Khaled,
asserted that resistance operations would go no stopped “against the
foreign and proxy forces.”
Taliban
also launched a number of missiles on the post of the U.S. troops in
the city of Asaadbad in Konar, but there were not causalities.
Meanwhile,
the house of Ahmad Wali Karzai, the brother of Afghan President Hamid
Karzai, came under a missile attack late on Monday, the Afghan Islamic
news agencies reported.
Two
missiles were fired at his house in central Kandahar, southwest of
Afghanistan, the agency quoted an eyewitness as saying.
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A
file photo of an AH-64 Apache helicopter
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The
attack damaged the west-side wall of the house, he said, adding that
scores of U.S. troops were deployed in the city and frisked the
residents.
The
U.S. military in Afghanistan launched Sunday, June 1, a massive
hunt-down operation for fleeing members of the ousted Taliban regime
believed to be hiding in Shahi Kot Mountains of the state of Bakhita.
Dozens
of U.S. helicopters and warplanes have been reconnoitering the state
since Sunday night.
According
to eyewitnesses, hundreds of armed-to-the-teeth U.S. soldiers were
deployed around the mountains in addition to scores of paratroopers.
Huge
numbers of residents fled their homes, fearing to be caught in
crossfire between Taliban fighters and U.S. troops.
Helicopter
Crashed
In
another development, a U.S. army helicopter crashed Tuesday, June 3,
while supporting combat operations in southeast Afghanistan but
there were no casualties, Agence France-Presse (AFP) quoted the U.S.
military as saying.
"An
army AH-64 Apache helicopter crashed about 1:30 pm (0900 GMT) today
(Tuesday) near Orgun-e in the Paktika province in southeast Afghanistan
while supporting combat operations," the U.S. military said in a
statement from Bagram Air Base north of Kabul.
"It
is not believed the crash was caused by hostile fire, however the
cause of the incident is under investigation," the statement
added.
"Security
forces sent to secure the crash site picked up both pilots," the
statement said.
The
two pilots were not injured although the helicopter was
"significantly damaged" in the crash near the Pakistani
border.
Taliban
Suspects Captured
Meanwhile,
U.S. forces captured four suspected Taliban fighters in eastern Afghanistan
during Operation Dragon Fury which ended Tuesday, AFP said.
Some
500 troops, mostly from the 82nd Airborne Division, were involved in
the two-day operation in a mountainous district of Nangahar province,
40-50 kilometers (25-30 miles) from the Pakistan border.
"Intelligence
sources have indicated there is a cell of al-Qaeda or Taliban
operating in the mountains. This is one of the hottest areas in Afghanistan,"
Major Jack Marr said before the operation.
Four
suspected Taliban or al-Qaeda fighters were captured from a farming
compound in the mountains without any fighting.
The
four men, who appeared to be Afghan, were hooded and handcuffed before
being taken away for interrogation.
"If
they were not actually Taliban or al-Qaeda members, they would appear
to have been facilitators," claimed Lieutenant Michael Swift.
U.S.
troops were transported from Bagram Air Base north of Kabul by Chinook
helicopters and escorted by Black Hawk helicopter gunships.
It
was the biggest operation since April when 500 troops and a dozen
attack and assault helicopters were deployed in Operation Resolute
Strike in southern Helmand province.
In
that operation U.S. forces seized eight people suspected of being
involved in an ambush in March in which two U.S. soldiers were killed.
