Five years after letting bin-Laden escape, military returns to Tora Bora

[bigtree]

U.S. launches offensive in Tora Bora area of Afghanistan; 3 Germans killed in bombing

RAHIM FAIEZ, Associated Press Writer

August 15, 2007 10:39 AM

BAGRAMI, Afghanistan (AP) - Hundreds of U.S.-led troops have launched an offensive against al-Qaida and Taliban militants in an area of eastern Afghanistan where Osama bin Laden once hid, officials said Wednesday.

A bomb attack near the capital, meanwhile, killed three German police officers assigned to protect their country's embassy, and a British national was shot and killed in Kabul.

The offensive involving ground troops and airstrikes in Tora Bora region of eastern Nangarhar province is targeting ''hundreds of foreign fighters'' who are using dug-in fighting positions, said coalition spokeswoman Capt. Vanessa Bowman.

The remote mountainous area bordering Pakistan was heavily bombarded in late 2001 by U.S. troops hunting bin Laden and his associates following the Sept. 11 attacks.

''This region has provided an ideal environment to conceal enemy support bases and training sites, as well as plan and launch attacks aimed at terrorizing innocent civilians, both inside and outside the region,'' Bowman said in a statement released later Wednesday by the Pentagon.

There were no immediate reports of casualties among militants or U.S. and Afghan troops.

Sensitive to criticism over rising civilian casualties in Afghanistan, U.S officials said they had carefully chosen targets for air strikes.


http://www.newspress.com/Top/Article/article.jsp?Section=WORLD&ID=565069558705423934

[babylonsister]

1. Brilliant!

:eyes:

[EFerrari]

2. I thought we already rearranged all the rocks at Tora Bora.

Sometimes it feels like the evil twins of the Keystone Cops are running this joint. :(

[SpiralHawk]

3. Maybe this will dredge up the truth of the original Tora Bora fiasco ?

Americans could stand some fundamental education about that...

[Old and In the Way]

4. Are they going to exhume remains?

Wouldn't surprise me if they are finally deciding that OBL would be more valuable to this administration confirmed dead.

[EFerrari]

6. God knows they're made enough people dead that finding a body

won't be that big a chore. :(

[TwilightGardener]

5. Taking, losing, and retaking ground. What a well-run military campaign.

[JeffR]

7. Just missed him by 5 lousy years!

He's a slippery one, that Osama.