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American missiles kill 17, injure 30 in Pakistan militant training center
Published on Saturday, Jul 04, 2009
Associated Press
NAWA, AFGHANISTAN: U.S. Marines pushed deeper into Taliban areas of southern Afghanistan on Friday, seeking to cut insurgent supply lines and win over local elders on the second day of the biggest U.S. military operation here since the American-led invasion of 2001.
On the other side of the border, U.S. missiles struck a Pakistani Taliban militant training center and communications center, killing 17 people and wounding nearly 30, Pakistani intelligence officials said.
Both U.S. operations were aimed at what President Barack Obama considers the biggest dangers in the region: a Taliban-led insurgency allied with al-Qaida that threatens both nuclear-armed Pakistan and the U.S.-backed government in Afghanistan.
The 4,000-strong U.S. force met little resistance Friday as troops fanned out into villages in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province, although one Marine
was killed and several others were wounded the day before, U.S. officials said.
Despite minimal contact, the Marines could see militants using flashlights late Thursday to signal one another about American troop movements.
Military spokesman Capt. Bill Pelletier said the goal of the Helmand operation was not simply to kill Taliban fighters but also to win over the local population — a difficult task in a region where foreigners are viewed with suspicion.
Marines also hope to cut the routes used by militants to funnel weapons, ammunition and fighters from Pakistan to the Taliban, which have mounted an increasingly violent insurgency since their hard-line Islamist government was toppled in 2001 by an international coalition.
The new U.S. operation will test the Obama administration's new strategy of holding territory to let the Afghan government establish a presence in rural areas where Taliban influence is strong.
As Operation Khanjar, or ''Strike of the Sword,'' entered its second day, Marines took control of the district centers of Nawa and Garmser, and negotiated entry into Khan Neshin, the capital of Rig district, Pelletier said.
Taking territory from the Taliban has always proved easier than holding it. The challenge is especially great in Helmand because it is a center of Afghanistan's thriving opium production, and drug profits feed both the insurgency and corrupt government officials.
On Wednesday, a British officer was killed in an explosion in Helmand. Lt. Col. Rupert Thorneloe, commander of the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards, was the highest-ranking British officer killed in Afghanistan.
A Canadian soldier, 30-year-old Cpl. Nicholas Bulger, was killed Friday in Kandahar province after his vehicle struck a bomb, the Canadian military said. Five other soldiers were hurt.
The missile attacks in Pakistan on Friday occurred about 620 miles east of Helmand in the rugged South Waziristan region, according to two officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.
The area is a Taliban stronghold close to the Afghan border where Pakistani troops are gearing up for a major offensive.
Also Friday, U.S. troops continued looking for an American soldier believed captured by insurgents, Navy Chief Petty Officer Brian Naranjo said. The soldier and three Afghans with him disappeared Tuesday in the eastern Paktika province
There was no immediate public claim of responsibility from any insurgent group.
Much of the area is controlled by the Taliban faction led by Sirajuddin Haqqani, whom the United States has accused of masterminding beheadings and suicide bombings, including the July 2008 attack on the Indian Embassy in Kabul that killed some 60 people.
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