Afghan and US troops overrun three southern Taliban hideouts, bombing continues
QALAT, Afghanistan -- U.S. jets bombed suspected Taliban positions in the mountains of southern Afghanistan on Wednesday, while U.S. and Afghan troops surrounded a cave where several insurgents are holding out, an Afghan commander said.
U.S. and allied troops came under fire in the area but no casualties were reported, U.S. military spokesman Col. Rodney Davis said Wednesday in a statement. The military also said that five rockets were fired Tuesday at its base in Gardez, in eastern Afghanistan near the border with Pakistan, but no damages or injuries occurred.
American fighter jets and attack helicopters hit several suspected Taliban positions in the Larzab and Sairo Ghar mountains, in Zabul province's Dai Chupan district, said Haji Saifullah Khan, the main Afghan commander in the area.
"U.S. and Afghan forces have surrounded the cave," said Khan, speaking by satellite phone from the front lines. He said it was possible that several Taliban commanders were inside. Khan's account could not be independently verified.
The commander said one rebel fighter -- who had lost a hand in earlier combat -- was captured and turned over to American forces.
No ground fighting was reported Wednesday.
Suspected Taliban also burned a primary school in Logar province, 40 miles south of the Afghan capital, Kabul, in a nighttime arson attack and scattered letters that threatened those who agree to teach Afghan girls, said Amir Jhan, spokesman for the region's military commander.
Classes resumed Wednesday morning in an undamaged portion of the Moghul Khil mixed boys and girls school. Nobody has been arrested for the attack, which destroyed two rooms in a building and two tents that served as classrooms.
The former Taliban regime prohibited girls from attending school as part of its drive to establish what it considered a "pure" Islamic state, before it was ousted by a U.S.-led military force in late 2001. Education for girls still has opposition among many in conservative rural Afghanistan as well as hard-line elements within the U.S.-backed government.
Combat has been intense at times in the Zabul area -- where several hundred suspected Taliban have offered stiff resistance to coalition forces. The insurgents are entrenched in hideouts deep within mountain gorges, and along rivers that wind through the mountains.
The U.S. military has said at least 37 insurgents have been killed in direct combat or air strikes since fighting in the area began nine days ago. Afghan officials have put the toll much higher.
One American soldier died Friday when he fell during a night combat mission in Zabul. Two other U.S. soldiers died in a 90-minute gunbattle Sunday in eastern Afghanistan, near the border with Pakistan. Four suspected Taliban were killed in that fighting.
Those deaths bring to 35 the number of U.S. troops killed in action in Afghanistan, in addition to 162 that have been wounded, according to the U.S. military.
Khan said the Taliban had been pushed back from three hideouts Tuesday but were continuing to hunker down, using the rough terrain as their shield. Afghan officials say the area is a base from which the insurgents have planned and launched increasing attacks on surrounding provinces.
Davis said Tuesday that coalition forces clashed with groups of five to 10 fighters firing small arms and rocket-propelled grenades in Dai Chupan. He said coalition forces were attacking the cave with small arms fire, artillery and air support.
Since Saturday, the U.S. military has dubbed its role in the skirmishes as "Operation Mountain Viper."
The military said U.S. special operations forces and soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division, as well as close air support, have been involved. The military would not say how many U.S. soldiers were involved in the fighting, though Afghan officials have put the number at several hundred.
