NATO, Afghans claim to kill 130 Taliban in Kunduz

Suicide attack on Afghan army centre kills 37
14 Mar 2011 11:01

Source: reuters // Reuters


(Adds details, quote, background)

KUNDUZ, Afghanistan, March 14 (Reuters) - A suicide attack on an army recruitment centre in northern Afghanistan killed 37 people on Monday, the third major assault in the area in less than a month, the deputy governor said.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack on behalf of the militant Islamist group. Dozens more were wounded, officials said.

A Reuters witness heard gunfire in the area after the attack but Hamdullah Danishi, deputy governor of Kunduz province, said the casualties were all caused by a single suicide bomber.

"The death toll includes new recruits, army soldiers and civilians," Danishi told Reuters. A doctor in the Kunduz provincial hospital said 33 bodies had been brought in.

Violence is spreading fast in the once relatively peaceful north, with Kunduz a particular focus for insurgents.

The Kunduz police chief was killed by a suicide bomber while out on patrol in the city last week. In late February, another suicide bomber killed at least 30 people in a government office while people were queueing to collect identity cards in the Emam Saheb district of Kunduz.
The previous governor of Kunduz was killed in an attack on a mosque where he was worshipping last October.

The province has become established as an insurgent base over the past two years, with attacks radiating out into surrounding provinces while NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) offensives have been concentrated in Taliban strongholds in the south and east.

ISAF said on Monday they had heard reports of the latest attack in Kunduz and were investigating.

In 2010, violence across Afghanistan hit its worst levels since the Taliban were ousted by U.S.-backed Afghan forces in late 2001, despite the presence of about 150,000 foreign troops. It has been rising this year even before an expected spring offensive against insurgents. (Reporting by Fraidoon Elham and Hamid Shalizi, writing by Emma Graham-Harrison, editing by Paul Tait)




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09 Nov 2009 12:14:31 GMT
Source: Reuters
Background
• Afghan turmoil

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(For more on Afghanistan, click on [ID:nAFPAK])

KUNDUZ, Afghanistan, Nov 9 (Reuters) - NATO and Afghan officials claimed on Monday their forces had killed at least 130 Taliban fighters in a major operation over the past week in an area of Afghanistan's north where militant activity has surged.

A combined force of 700 Afghan troops and 50 NATO soldiers cleared villages of fighters, killing more than 130 insurgents including eight Taliban commanders during a five-day operation, NATO spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Todd Vician said.

Kunduz province governor Mohammad Omar told Reuters the combined force had killed 133 fighters during the operation, which took place in and around Kunduz's Char Dara district.

However, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said only five fighters had died, and called the death toll given by NATO and Afghan officials "propaganda".

The NATO-led force deployed air strikes against armed insurgents but believed no civilians were among those killed, Vician said. No NATO or Afghan troops were killed, he added.

Kunduz province is mainly patrolled by the NATO force's German contingent, which has failed to prevent Taliban fighters from taking control of many rural villages in recent months.

Its Char Dara district was the site of the deadliest incident involving German troops since World War Two. In early September, a German officer ordered a U.S. air strike that the Afghan government says killed 30 civilians as well as 69 fighters.

Germany acknowledged this week for the first time that civilians were killed in that strike and not all procedures were followed correctly, but says an air strike was nonetheless needed to prevent a suicide attack by fighters in stolen fuel trucks.

That incident also drew attention to the rapid spread of Taliban control in Kunduz, one of the provinces where NATO says insurgents have made gains this year, spreading out of southern and eastern bases into once-quiet northern and western areas.

(Reporting by Peter Graff and Hamid Shalizi in KABUL and Mohammad Hamed in KUNDUZ; Editing by Paul Tait) (For more Reuters coverage of Afghanistan and Pakistan, see: http://www.reuters.com/news/globalcoverage/afghanistanpakistan)

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KUNDUZ - Afghan troops killed three insurgents during a gun battle in the Imam Saheb district of northern Kunduz province on Saturday evening, district governor Juma Khan said.

KUNDUZ - Taliban insurgents set on fire three loaded fuel tankers bound for NATO-led troops in Kunduz city on Saturday, but no one was killed or wounded, provincial governor Mohammad Omar said.