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Troops Raid Taliban Compound
Friday, May 24, 2002
CBS News

A senior British military official said foes of the U.S.-led coalition are likely to try car and truck bombs, drive-by shootings and other similar tactics. Coalition troops will have to adapt, the official said.

Two incidents of allied military forces engaging enemy fighters in Afghanistan were reported over the last day.

U.S. and coalition forces raided a suspected Taliban leadership compound in Afghanstan, killing one and detaining 50 fighters, the U.S. Defense Department said Friday.

And members of a reconnaissance team shot and wounded or killed two attackers in the first firefight for British forces in Afghanistan, retaliating after attackers shot at their camouflaged position, a spokesman said.

Gen. Peter Pace said U.S. and coalition forces were fired upon as they entered the compound west of Kandahar on Thursday night. They returned fire, he said, killing one and wounding two others. There were no American or coalition casualties. Pace provided no details on the 50 detainees. He said the “initial processing” of the detainees was in progress.

The 12-member British team was camouflaged about 250 yards from a road in the countryside of eastern Afghanistan near Khost when it came under fire Thursday morning, Lt. Col. Ben Curry said. It was unclear whether the attackers belonged to al Qaeda or the Taliban. They may have been aligned with a local warlord, the spokesman said, adding it was unclear how the attackers discovered the team, which was trained to hide for days, covertly watching an area for activity.
(More: CBSNews.com News Source)
2002 © Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS).

Dan