Monday, August 27, 2012

Defense Ministry - Taliban Beheads 17 Afghan Party - Goers; 2 Nato Troops Killed - The Washington Post

The Taliban did not immediately comment on the reported massacre.

Neyamatullah Khan, chief of the Musa Qala district where U.S. Marines have long battled Taliban insurgents, said the Taliban slaughtered the partygoers to show disapproval of the celebration, news agencies reported.

Daoud Ahmadi, a spokesman for the Helmand provincial government, said all of the victims were beheaded but that it was not clear whether they had been shot first. He said authorities sent a team to the site to investigate.

The killings of the two NATO troops occurred in a remote area of eastern Laghman province where the joint forces were on a patrol, said Sarhadi Zwak, a spokesman for the provincial governor.

There were conflicting accounts of the shooting, and it was not immediately clear whether it was part of a spate of this year, unprecedented during the nearly 11-year U.S.-led war, forced NATO recently to order soldiers to carry loaded weapons at all times.

An ISAF spokesman estimated Monday that a quarter of the attacks stemmed from the infiltration of Taliban insurgents into the Afghan forces but that the majority of attacks had other roots.

The attacks come as NATO and U.S. forces continue to transfer security responsibility to Afghan forces ahead of their planned withdrawal of all combat troops by the end of 2014.

While foreign troops have largely been the targets of insider attacks, Afghan forces in recent months have also suffered losses from similar strikes.

The killings of the civilians and foreign soldiers was part of a wave of violence since the weekend in Afghanistan. Overnight, insurgents stormed an Afghan army post Sunday night in the Washir district of Helmand province, killing 10 soldiers, officials said.

Eleven attackers were also killed in the gun battle that lasted for hours in the arid and remote district, the Defense Ministry said.

Javed Hamdard contributed to this report.

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