Perilous Times
3 U.S. troops die in attack on Kandahar police HQ
By MIRWAIS KHAN
The Associated Press
Wednesday, July 14, 2010; 3:57 AM
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- A car bomb and gunfight at the entrance of a
police headquarters killed three U.S. troops and five civilians in the
southern Afghan city of Kandahar, officials said Wednesday.
An Afghan police officer also died in the attack on the compound of the
elite Afghan National Civili Order Police late Tuesday night, a
provincial spokesman said.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.
A suicide attacker slammed a car bomb into the entrance of the
compound, then insurgents opened fire with machine guns and
rocket-propelled grenades, a NATO statement said. A combined force of
international troops and police kept the attackers from entering the
compound and eventually fought them off, but three American troops died
along with five civilian workers, NATO said.
Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi telephoned reporters Wednesday to
claim responsibility for the attack. The militant group, which is prone
to exaggerate death tolls inflicted on Afghan and international
security forces, claimed 13 international troops and eight Afghan
security forces died in the raid.
Kandahar is the spiritual birthplace of the Taliban. The insurgents
have intensified attacks on government targets as Afghan and
international reinforcements move in.
The Civil Order Police compound in Mirwais Miani district was near one
of the 11 new checkpoints set up in recent weeks around the city,
Kandahar provincial spokesman Zulmi Ayubi said. He said it was unclear
whether the dead police officer was from the Civil Order Police, an
elite force within the national police, or the local Kandahar city
police.
The new checkpoints are manned by the elite Afghan unit along with
international forces in a push to increase security in the south's
largest city, where Taliban operatives have long operated.
At the same time, thousands of NATO and Afghan troops are streaming
into the surrounding province to pressure insurgents in rural areas.
The strategy is to secure the population with the additional trained
police and troops so that capable governance and development projects
designed to build capacity can win the loyalty of the city's
half-million residents.