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KANDAHAR, Oct 2: Government troops and suspected Taliban fighters clashed in southern Afghanistan, killing 10 soldiers, two children and one rebel, a military official said on Thursday.
One wounded Taliban fighter was captured in the attack in the Dara-i-Noor area late on Wednesday, said Gen Atta Mohammed, director of Afghan special forces in Kandahar.
The troops were travelling to the Nesh district from neighbouring Uruzgan province when their pickup truck came under fire from up to 16 Taliban fighters in Dara-i-Noor, about 70 kilometres north of Kandahar. The soldiers returned fire, killing one rebel, Mohammed said.
The children of one soldier were also riding in the military vehicle when it was ambushed, Mohammed said.
Government troops, along with nearly a dozen US forces, were in the area on Thursday searching for Taliban rebels, Mohammed said.
He said one car was seized and two men were arrested in nearby villages, although he refused to say if they were Taliban fighters.
“We might be able to say later whether they were involved in the attack,” he said.
CANADIANS KILLED: Two Canadian soldiers, serving with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Kabul, have died in an apparent landmine explosion, a Canadian official said on Thursday. The official who declined to be named, confirmed a report on CBC Television that there were two definite casualties from the explosion.
In a report from Kabul, CBC was reporting that five Canadian soldiers, on patrol in a Jeep, were hit when their vehicle apparently ran over a land mine. Two of the soldiers later died, reported CBC.
These are the first Canadian casualties since the country sent 1,900 troops to serve with ISAF.—APP / AFP
