July 22, 2003	Tuesday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 21, 1424

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BAGRAM AIR BASE, July 21: The Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters have boosted attacks on US-led forces in Afghanistan this past month, the US military said Monday as coalition forces hunted extremists after a failed ambush that left up to 24 Taliban dead.

“There has been an increase in attacks, but we also increased attacks against them; they increased, we increased,” US military spokesman Colonel Rodney Davis told reporters at Bagram Air Base, 50km north of Kabul.

German Lieutenant General Norbert van Heyst, commander of the separate peacekeeping International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Kabul, earlier this month said attacks across Afghanistan doubled between April and May and were still running high.

“What the anti-coalition forces have to understand is, if you attack the coalition we will do everything to destroy you,” Davis said in reference to Saturday’s fighting between suspected Taliban and US troops that left two dozen suspected Taliban dead in southeast Afghanistan.—AFP