Taliban ambush kills 15 security guards
Pastor Dale Morgan
Taliban ambush kills 15 security guards*
Fred Attewill and agencies
Tuesday December 18, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
Taliban fighters ambushed a convoy of fuel tankers travelling to Helmand
province in Afghanistan today, killing 15 guards employed by a US
security company.
The men, who worked for the Texas-based US Protection and Investigations
(USPI), were travelling in a group of between six and eight vehicles
guarding the tankers when the militants attacked.
A further five guards were wounded, according to Muhaidin Baluch, the
governor of Farah province in west Afghanistan, where the attack took
place. One fuel tanker was set on fire and one of the guards' vehicles
was taken.
The tankers were travelling from the western city of Herat to a military
outpost in Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province, where some of
the heaviest fighting has taken place this year between Nato and Afghan
troops and the Taliban.
USPI, which employs thousands of Afghans to guard convoys and buildings,
has made no comment.
This year has been one of the bloodiest in Afghanistan since the 2001
invasion by US-led forces. More than 6,300 people, mostly Taliban
fighters, have been killed, according to the Associated Press news agency.
The country has also seen a record number of suicide bomb attacks - more
than 140 - in 2007.