Taleban Gun Down Guards of Afghan Governor

News, September 2003, www.aljazeerah.info

Reuters, Arab News

KABUL, 29 September 2003 — Taleban fighters killed seven bodyguards of the governor of the volatile southern province of Helmand at the weekend in the latest of a series of violent strikes by the resurgent movement, officials said yesterday.

Haji Mohammad Ayoub, deputy chief of police in Helmand, told Reuters Taleban fighters attacked a military vehicle carrying the soldiers at Sangin district, northeast of Helmand’s capital Lashkargah, on Saturday night.

He said the governor, Sher Mohammad Akhundzada, was not traveling with them. Five soldiers died instantly and two within a few hours, he said.

Haji Muhammad Wali, a spokesman for the governor, said at least 10 Taleban in two cars staged the attack. They escaped but abandoned one car with a mechanical problem.

It was the latest of a series of strikes blamed on a resurgent Taleban movement ousted by US-led forces late in 2001 and the second in Helmand in less than a week, after an attack that killed two aid workers on Wednesday.

The period since early August has been the bloodiest since the Taleban fell, with around 290 people killed, among them civilians, aid workers, police and militiamen, three US soldiers and guerrillas.

Taleban say they attacked a vehicle of the Voluntary Association for the Rehabilitation of Afghanistan in Helmand province on Wednesday, killing two aid Afghan workers.

The United Nations yesterday described that attack as a war crime that confirmed the critical necessity to enhance security in the provinces.

Earth, a planet hungry for peace

The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03).

The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03).

Opinions expressed in various sections are the sole responsibility of their authors and they may not represent Al-Jazeerah's.

editor@aljazeerah.info