- PESHAWAR -- Despite Taliban
failure to disrupt Sunday's landmark parliamentary elections in Afghanistan,
their spokesman Latifullah Hakimi claimed 51 attacks were launched against
the US-led coalition troops across the country in spite of unprecedented
security measures undertaken for the vote.
-
- Speaking from an undisclosed location to The News, the
spokesman insisted 31 foreign troops and 49 Afghan National Army (ANA)
soldiers were killed in Taliban attacks on Saturday and Sunday. He also
claimed 11 polling stations were burnt down including three in Urozgan
province, two each in Nuristan and Kandahar, and one each in Laghman, Ghazni,
Zabul and Kunar.
-
- There was no independent confirmation of Hakimi's claims.
The US military authorities and Afghan government denied Taliban claims.
Both the Taliban and the Afghan and US governments make battle claims that
are impossible to independently verify. The claims are often exaggerated
-
- Hakimi maintained that no Taliban fighter was killed,
injured or captured while launching the 51 attacks during the past two
days. He stressed that no civilian was killed or injured in the Taliban
attacks. "We had promised not to target the Afghan civilians and we
are glad that we were able to prevent civilian casualties," he argued.
-
- According to Hakimi, seven coalition tanks and seven
ANA military vehicles were hit and burnt during Taliban attacks. He claimed
the destruction of two tanks Saturday night and Sunday morning in Taliban
attacks killed four French commandoes and other foreign troops near Majal
village between Loi Karez and Spin Boldak towns not far from the Pakistan
border in Kandahar province. The other tanks and military vehicles, he
added, were destroyed in Kandahar's Shah Wali Kot and Shahr-i-Saffa districts,
Nawa and Dilaram districts in Helmand province, and in Ghazni and Wardak.
-
- The Taliban spokesman also gave a province-wise break-up
of the Taliban guerilla attacks over the past two days. He said 11 Taliban
attacks took place in Kandahar, 9 in Urozgan, 7 in Kunar, 4 each in Zabul
and Nangarhar, 3 each in Nuristan, Laghman and Ghazni, 2 in Loghar, and
one each in Kabul, Kapisa, Wardak, Helmand and Nimruz.
-
- Describing some of the major attacks, Hakimi explained
that four US soldiers were killed when their tank hit a landmine planted
by the Taliban and triggered by remote-control near Kagatori area on the
road between Ghorak and Mewand in Kandahar.
-
- He said American troops also came under Taliban attack
in Khugiani in the eastern Nangarhar province. He stated that five Afghan
policemen were killed in a Taliban assault in Narai district of Kunar while
another six were slain in Kandahar's Arghandab district. He reminded that
district police chief of Musaye district in Logar along with five cops
was ambushed and killed Saturday. Hakimi also claimed killing seven ANA
soldiers in Hazartak near Jaldak in Zabul province.
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