Woman among 13 killed in Paktia, Ghazni clashes

GARDEZ/GHAZNI CITY (PAN militants and a woman were killed by foreign troops during a raid on a house in southeastern Paktia province, an official said on Wednesday. Elsewhere in the south, an Afghan soldier and five fighters were killed in Ghazni province.

Several others insurgents were wounded after they attacked NATO-led soldiers from a house in the Daulatzai village of Zurmat district in Paktika on Tuesday night, the governor’s spokesman, Roohullah Samoon, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

Ten civilians, including women and children, were injured in the operation, he said, blaming the Taliban for using the civilian house for the attack.

The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said the insurgents fired at a joint Afghan-coalition security force, which returned fire in self-defence and called for the fighters to drop their weapons and exit the building. 

However, the insurgents fired again and the force responded with an airstrike. A statement from the NATO-led force said the troops found a woman dead and several others injured.  “The assault force’s intent was to fight the insurgents, and had no intention of harming civilians.”

A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said five fighters and six American troops were killed during the engagement.

In Ghazni, a soldier of Afghan National Army (ANA) and five Taliban were killed as a result of a clash in the Seh Pai area of Andar district, said the town’s administrative head, Sher Khan Yusufzai. The Taliban’s bodies of Taliban were left at the scene.

In a separate clash, three guerrillas and a driver were injured in Maqur district of the province. The firefight erupted as rebels attacked a supply convoy of foreign forces and burnt two vehicles, said the district police chief, Sahib Khan.

Mujahid said that they killed five drivers and burnt four logistic vehicles.

ma/myn/mud