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03/31/2006:

"Afghanistan Fighting Deadliest in Months"

Taliban rebels launched a large-scale attack on a coalition military base Wednesday in southern Afghanistan, killing an American and a Canadian soldier but losing 32 of their own in a fierce American-led retaliation.

The fighting was the deadliest in months and reflected a growing intensity of militant attacks after the Taliban warned of a renewed offensive this year, more than four years after the hard-line militia was ousted by U.S.-led airstrikes. More than 3,000 British troops are readying to take control of the volatile area.

"Over the last five or six weeks there have been various proven attacks mainly at night by the Taliban on that base, but I think it is fair to say this is the largest we have seen thus far," British spokesman Col. Chris Vernon told reporters in Kandahar.
abcnews.go.com


26 killed in clashes near Afghan border
PESHAWAR, Pakistan: Gunmen loyal to rival pro-Taleban clerics fought street battles in Pakistan’s tribal belt bordering Afghanistan, leaving at least 26 people dead, officials said yesterday.

The clashes erupted late on Monday after supporters of a Pakistani preacher tried to knock down a house which belonged to an Afghan Islamic leader’s faction, a tribal areas spokesman said.

The fighting with automatic weapons near the remote town of Bara in Khyber district follows about a year of tensions during which the two mullahs have used illegal private FM radio stations to criticise each other.

Spokesman Shah Zaman said five of Pakistani cleric Mufti Munir Shakir’s men were shot dead late on Monday when they attempted to demolish the Afghan clan’s house. In retaliation, Shakir’s men attacked tribesmen of Afghan rival Pir Saifur Rehman at around 2:00 am (2100 GMT) yesterday, killing 18 of them, Zaman said.

Another two of Shakir’s men injured in the shooting later died, a local administration official said on condition of anonymity.

The situation was tense in the area and the local administration was trying to end fighting through a jirga, or tribal assembly, Zaman said.