Musa Qala

KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghan, British, and US troops closed in on a Taliban-held town in southern Afghanistan yesterday, sparking fierce clashes, officials said. A statement from the Afghan Defense Ministry said Taliban fighters in the town of Musa Qala should lay down their weapons or face a "wave of attacks. " A Musa Qala resident said Taliban fighters were surrounded and had been pushed back into the town's center. Haji Mohammad Rauf said "fierce fighting" was taking place.

KABUL - Two bomb explosions and an insurgent attack killed two NATO service members and a local Afghan government official on Wednesday in different parts of Afghanistan, authorities said. The deaths occurred one day after Taliban suicide bombers killed at least 19 people across the country as they stepped up their fight against Afghan forces gradually taking the lead from US and international troops. NATO said both coalition service members were killed in the south - one in a roadside bombing and the other during an insurgent attack.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - More than 50 Taliban fighters who fled a key southern Afghan town were killed in a two-day battle as the militants tried to attack a nearby government center, the Defense Ministry said yesterday. In the east, two NATO soldiers were killed and three were wounded when a roadside bomb struck their convoy, the alliance said. NATO did not disclose the nationalities of the victims or give the exact location of the blast. Most of the NATO troops in the east are American.

KABUL - Bombings and shootings killed 12 people across Afghanistan, including four American service members and three children, adding to the growing toll as NATO and the United States consider whether to send more forces to the war. Three US troops were killed in southern Afghanistan on Sunday - two in a bombing and a third in a separate firefight - and another was killed in the east in a bombing yesterday, NATO said in a statement. The deaths bring the number of Americans killed in Afghanistan in November to 15. October was the deadliest month for US troops in the...

KABUL, Afghanistan - US-led coalition forces fought with Taliban militants in southern Afghanistan's poppy-growing belt yesterday, engaging in a daylong battle that left more than 60 Taliban fighters and one coalition soldier dead, military officials said. Dozens of insurgents attacked a coalition-Afghan patrol near the town of Musa Qala in Helmand Province with machine guns, mortars, and rocket-propelled grenades, the coalition said in a statement. Taliban reinforcements flowed in from Musa Qala all day, it said.

KABUL, Afghanistan - Days after Taliban fighters overran Musa Qala, a US commander pledged that Western troops would take it back. Nine months later, the town is still Taliban territory, a symbol of the West's struggles to control the poppy-growing south. But a string of recent battles around Musa Qala, won overwhelmingly by American special forces, signals a renewed US focus on the symbolic Taliban stronghold. An Afghan Army commander said yesterday that US and Afghan forces have taken over the area around the town and that Afghan commanders are...

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Hundreds of Taliban militants overran a southern Afghan town that British troops had left after a contentious peace agreement in October, destroying the government center and temporarily holding elders hostage, officials and residents said yesterday. The assault, days after a Taliban commander was killed outside the town of Musa Qala, raises doubts about the future of the peace deal, which has been criticized by some Western officials as a NATO retreat in hostile territory.

KABUL, Afghanistan - US-led coalition forces killed about 80 Taliban fighters during a six-hour battle outside a Taliban-controlled town in southern Afghanistan yesterday, the latest in a series of increasingly bloody engagements in the region, officials said. Also yesterday, suicide bomber wearing an Afghan security uniform detonated explosives at the entrance to a combined US-Afghan base in the east of the country, killing four Afghan soldiers and a civilian, officials said. The battle near Musa Qala in Helmand province - the world's largest poppy...

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - NATO and Afghan forces were making gains in an operation to retake a Taliban-controlled town in southern Afghanistan, which has killed at least 12 Taliban fighters and two children, the Afghan Defense Ministry said yesterday. The troops conducting the operation were positioned to the east, west, and south of Musa Qala, a Defense Ministry spokesman said. Coalition forces warned that they would mount an intense attack if the Taliban refused to surrender. In other violence in southern Afghanistan, a NATO soldier was killed and...

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Taliban militants ambushed a group of police officers eating lunch in remote southern Afghanistan, killing 20 and fatally shooting the mother of one as she pleaded unsuccess- fully for her son's life, an official said yesterday. A Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousef Ahmadi, said two militants were killed and four wounded in the ambush Wednesday in Helmand Province. Ahmadi said 32 police officers were killed, but Afghan officials put the toll at 20, plus the mother.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Taliban militants ambushed a group of police officers eating lunch in remote southern Afghanistan, killing 20 and fatally shooting the mother of one as she pleaded unsuccess- fully for her son's life, an official said yesterday. A Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousef Ahmadi, said two militants were killed and four wounded in the ambush Wednesday in Helmand Province. Ahmadi said 32 police officers were killed, but Afghan officials put the toll at 20, plus the mother.

KABUL, Afghanistan - Two senior European diplomats left Afghanistan yesterday after the government expelled them over accusations that they held unauthorized meetings with Taliban militants, officials said. The diplomats - one worked for the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan and the other was the acting head of the European Union mission - had traveled to Musa Qala, a former Taliban stronghold in southern Helmand province on Monday, where they met with local leaders, said Aleem Siddique, a spokesman for the UN mission.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - More than 50 Taliban fighters who fled a key southern Afghan town were killed in a two-day battle as the militants tried to attack a nearby government center, the Defense Ministry said yesterday. In the east, two NATO soldiers were killed and three were wounded when a roadside bomb struck their convoy, the alliance said. NATO did not disclose the nationalities of the victims or give the exact location of the blast. Most of the NATO troops in the east are American.

KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghan, British, and US troops closed in on a Taliban-held town in southern Afghanistan yesterday, sparking fierce clashes, officials said. A statement from the Afghan Defense Ministry said Taliban fighters in the town of Musa Qala should lay down their weapons or face a "wave of attacks. " A Musa Qala resident said Taliban fighters were surrounded and had been pushed back into the town's center. Haji Mohammad Rauf said "fierce fighting" was taking place.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - NATO and Afghan forces were making gains in an operation to retake a Taliban-controlled town in southern Afghanistan, which has killed at least 12 Taliban fighters and two children, the Afghan Defense Ministry said yesterday. The troops conducting the operation were positioned to the east, west, and south of Musa Qala, a Defense Ministry spokesman said. Coalition forces warned that they would mount an intense attack if the Taliban refused to surrender. In other violence in southern Afghanistan, a NATO soldier was killed and...

KABUL, Afghanistan - Days after Taliban fighters overran Musa Qala, a US commander pledged that Western troops would take it back. Nine months later, the town is still Taliban territory, a symbol of the West's struggles to control the poppy-growing south. But a string of recent battles around Musa Qala, won overwhelmingly by American special forces, signals a renewed US focus on the symbolic Taliban stronghold. An Afghan Army commander said yesterday that US and Afghan forces have taken over the area around the town and that Afghan...

KABUL, Afghanistan - Two senior European diplomats left Afghanistan yesterday after the government expelled them over accusations that they held unauthorized meetings with Taliban militants, officials said. The diplomats - one worked for the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan and the other was the acting head of the European Union mission - had traveled to Musa Qala, a former Taliban stronghold in southern Helmand province on Monday, where they met with local leaders, said Aleem Siddique, a spokesman for the UN mission.

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Police fled a town in western Afghanistan yesterday and suspected Taliban militants briefly moved in -- the second time in a month that the government has lost control of a district in the area. The police fled to a forest near Bakwa in Farah province a day after a roadside bomb killed four officers involved in opium poppy eradication. A group of militants moved in and stayed for about 30 minutes, seizing three vehicles before leaving, said provincial Governor Muhajuddin Baluch.

KABUL, Afghanistan - US-led coalition forces killed about 80 Taliban fighters during a six-hour battle outside a Taliban-controlled town in southern Afghanistan yesterday, the latest in a series of increasingly bloody engagements in the region, officials said. Also yesterday, suicide bomber wearing an Afghan security uniform detonated explosives at the entrance to a combined US-Afghan base in the east of the country, killing four Afghan soldiers and a civilian, officials said. The battle near Musa Qala in Helmand province - the world's largest poppy growing region - is at least the...

KABUL, Afghanistan - US-led coalition forces fought with Taliban militants in southern Afghanistan's poppy-growing belt yesterday, engaging in a daylong battle that left more than 60 Taliban fighters and one coalition soldier dead, military officials said. Dozens of insurgents attacked a coalition-Afghan patrol near the town of Musa Qala in Helmand Province with machine guns, mortars, and rocket-propelled grenades, the coalition said in a statement. Taliban reinforcements flowed in from Musa Qala all day, it said.