NATO kills 115 militants in east Afghanistan fight

[unhappycamper]

U.S. Marine Gen. John Allen, top NATO Commander in Afghanistan, gestures during an interview with The Associated Press in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2011. The top NATO commander in Afghanistan says the international coalition has unleashed a new offensive against one of the country's most lethal militant networks and will ramp up operations next year along the Pakistan border to better secure the Afghan capital before the U.S. drawdown gathers steam.


NATO kills 115 militants in east Afghanistan fight
October 20, 2011 5:31 AM

(AP) KABUL, Afghanistan — NATO and Afghan forces have killed at least 115 insurgents over the past week as part of an ongoing operation in a northeastern Afghanistan province, the coalition said Thursday, as it looks to curb insurgent activity along the border with neighboring Pakistan.

The fighting in Kunar province, known for its rugged terrain that leaves coalition supply lines from Pakistan vulnerable to insurgent attacks, comes as NATO is stepping up efforts to secure the country and ready Afghan forces to fully take over security responsibilities before international forces wind down their combat mission in 2014.

NATO said the operation has been going on since around Oct. 15 and has included the use of fighter jets and long-range bombers. The alliance said that one NATO service member has been killed since the fighting began. It was not immediately clear if any Afghan troops had been killed.

"This is a series of multiple, smaller operations that have a combined, larger impact," said Master Sgt. Nicholas Conner, a NATO spokesman at Bagram Air Field. "Most of the Kunar region is marked with isolated pockets of villages that (Afghan and NATO) forces focus on at the company level or smaller."



unhappycamper comment: Can you say "Vietnam, part duex?"