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New U.S. Operation Against Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan
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| U.S. special forces storming a suspected Al-Qaeda location |
Additional
reporting By
Hosbanullah Motawakil, IOL Afghanistan Correspondent
PESHAWAR,
August 23 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – American troops, along
with coalition forces and Afghan militias, launched a new military
operation against remaining Al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters in
southeastern Afghanistan. The campaign includes conventional as well
as special forces.
The
operation, continuing for the past two days, has targeted Zurmat
district, 27 kilometers (15 miles) west of the provincial capital
Gardez, a Pakistan-based private news service said.
The
U.S.-led coalition forces and the Afghan militias started a new
operation in southeastern Afghanistan aiming to kill or capture
fighters of Al-Qaeda and Taliban or those who are helping them, said
Lieutenant Colonel Roger King, spokesman of the U.S. Army and the
coalition forces in Bagram military base.
Afghani
Defense Ministry Mohamed Fahim said that these operations are a part
of the military treaty between Afghanistan and the American forces,
adding that these operations are powerful, fast and continuous.
Hundreds
of military vehicles, covered by military planes and helicopters,
arrived in Paktia and the neighboring provinces of Khost, reported the
Pakistani paper, Al-Mashriq, Thursday, August 22.
U.S.
troops have started house-to-house searches to search the area for
Taliban and Al-Qaeda suspects, it said.
The
U.S. forces targeted Zurmat because the area is considered a base for
pro-Taliban commander Maulawi Saifur Rehman Mansoor, the Afghan
Islamic Press (AIP) reported Tuesday, August 20.
Mansoor
fought against U.S. and allied forces during their operation to round
up Al-Qaeda and Taliban fugitives in the Shah-I-Kot valley in March
this year, it said.
The
paper added that the U.S. forces have moved large amount of weapons a
ammunitions to a warehouse in Paktia they had earlier seized from
Taliban.
Paktia
ruler, Raz Mohamed Dilly, confirmed the arrival of the American troops
to his province, adding that they arrested two men, while they failed
to find a third one described as ‘important’.
The
operation follows recent attacks on coalition forces by Al-Qaeda and
Taliban suspects in the region, including rocket attacks on Khost
airport.
Al-Mashriq
also said that 19 soldiers from the coalition forces, including two
Americans, were killed when the base of the U.S. forces in Gardez, in
Paktia province, was hit by a remote controlled missile.
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