Afghanistan fighting kills British soldiers
KABUL, Afghanistan – An explosion during a fight with Taliban militants killed a British soldier in southern Afghanistan Saturday, while U.S.-led coalition and Afghan forces detained a Taliban commander and two suspected al-Qaida militants in the east, officials said.
British troops using artillery, mortar and small arms fire destroyed a Taliban stronghold on the outskirts of Garmsir in Helmand province, Britain’s Ministry of Defense said.
During the operation, an explosion killed one soldier and wounded four, including three who had to be evacuated by helicopter.
On Friday, a roadside bomb explosion killed a Canadian soldier during a joint Canadian-Afghan patrol in the Zhari district of Kandahar province. Another Canadian soldier and an Afghan interpreter were injured.
The deaths Friday and Saturday brought to 56 the number of U.S. and NATO troops killed in Afghanistan this year.
In the southern province of Helmand, seven Taliban fighters, including two local commanders, were killed in a joint coalition-Afghan operation in Gereshk district on Friday, the Interior Ministry said.
The Taliban commander, detained in Nangarhar province by coalition forces and Afghan border police, headed a roadside bomb cell responsible for killing and injuring Afghans, the coalition said in a statement.
The suspect, Sayed Gulab, had “extensive connections” with other senior Taliban and al-Qaida leaders in Nangarhar and Pakistan, it said. He was detained on Thursday and was being held in a coalition facility.
“The detention of Sayed Gulab will lead to information on Taliban and al-Qaida leaders, including their operations within Nangarhar and neighboring provinces,” said Maj. Chris Belcher, a coalition spokesman.
The two suspected al-Qaida militants were seized in a raid Saturday in Khost province that also discovered two fragmentation grenades and an anti-personnel mine, the coalition said.
“We are continuing to identify and destroy pockets of al-Qaida militants throughout the country,” Belcher said.