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Taliban Killed in New Operation in Afghanistan Mountains
Friday, May 17, 2002
By David Rohde
New York Times Writer

BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan-- Source
Nearly 1,000 British Royal Marines were airlifted to a rugged corner of Eastern Afghanistan this morning after an Australian special forces patrol came under heavy fire Thursday afternoon from suspected Taliban fighters, American and British officials said today.

Several suspected Taliban were killed in battles that raged for several hours north of the city of Khost, which included American air strikes, but no coalition soldiers were injured. American officials said tonight that 100 Taliban or Al Qaeda fighters are believed to be in the area.

The unexpected attack on Thursday by Taliban fighters was the first combat between coalition forces and suspected Taliban after several weeks of sweeps near the Pakistani border by American, British, Canadian and Afghan soldiers that turned up almost no Taliban or Al Qaeda fighters. The British-led mission, dubbed Operation Condor, is expected to last several days.

The new fighting came as Afghan officials reported that a separate, unrelated American bombing near Khost killed nine people who appeared to have no ties to the Taliban and Al Qaeda. And at a meeting in Geneva, the United States and other donor countries agreed to give enough funds to begin the formation of a new Afghan police force and army.
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2002 © The New York Times Company.

Dan