Fierce fighting erupts in Afghanistan
Staff and agencies
Tuesday January 28, 2003
US and Afghan forces are battling around 80 rebels aligned with renegade
leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar in the largest-scale fighting seen in
Afghanistan for nine months, the US military has said.
At least 18 rebels have died since fighting began in mountains of
south-eastern Afghanistan yesterday, the military revealed. There are no
coalition casualties.
"It's the largest concentration of enemy forces since Operation Anaconda,"
US military spokesman, colonel Roger King, explained from Bagram air base.
Operation Anaconda was last March's US-led raid to flush Taliban and
al-Qaida strongholds from caves in south-eastern Afghanistan.
Another spokesman in Bagram, major Robert Hepner, said that 200 US special
forces troops are engaged in the mountain battle this week, with more
soldiers on their way.
American B-1 bombers, F-16s and AC-130 gunships are attacking enemy
positions including deep caves, Col King said.
"We've had reports of various numbers of armed men trying to gather in
order to carry out attacks on the coalition," he added. "We've been
actively engaged in trying to develop intelligence that would lead us to a
precise location, and yesterday we did." The fighting began when US special
forces and their Afghan allies attempted to clear a compound about 15 miles
north of Spinboldak, near the border with Pakistan. Armed attackers engaged
them in a small shootout.
One of the attackers was killed, one was injured and one was detained, Col
King said. The detained suspect told questioners that a large group of
armed men had massed in mountains nearby.
Apache helicopters sent to investigate came under small arms fire, and
fighter aircraft then pounded the area with bombs, Col King said.
"Our intelligence leads us to believe that they are most closely aligned
with the Hezb-e-Islami movement, which is Hekmatyar's military arm," he
added. "We've had reports over several months that he has been attempting
to consolidate with remnants of al-Qaida and the Taliban."
Hekmatyar was a key guerrilla commander during the Soviet war in
Afghanistan in the 80s. Later, in the civil conflict that paved the way for
the Taliban takeover, Hekmatyar's men pounded the capital, Kabul, with
daily rocket barrages.
He lived in exile in Iran during the five years of Taliban rule, returning
after US-led forces ousted the hardline militia. Western intelligence
agencies suspect that he is receiving money from Iran.
Hekmatyar's following among ethnic Pashtuns is considered to be fairly
significant. Reports that he was training suicide squads to target American
and government forces surfaced in September, when one of his military
commanders, Salauddin Safi, said that some Taliban had formed an alliance,
called Lashkar Fedayan-e-Islami, or the Islamic Martyrs Brigade, with
Hekmatyar's followers.
Col King would not speculate on what the guerrillas could be planning, but
said that the largest contingent of coalition forces was stationed in
Spinboldak. "That's an obvious target," he said.
He said it is believed that the rebel fighters, while loyal to Hekmatyar,
may have links to the ousted Taliban and al-Qaida.
Many Taliban and al-Qaida suspects fled into Pakistan following the US
bombardment of late 2001. UN and American forces have expressed concern
about renewed training by al-Qaida and Taliban militants in the
south-eastern Aghan mountains, near the border.
There have been a series of attacks along the border in recent months,
including one in December that left a US army sergeant dead. Rockets are
frequently fired at US bases in that region, but rarely hit their intended
targets.
Special reports
Afghanistan
http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,1284,884034,00.html
