U.S. Firm Ambushed Again In Southern Afghanistan
Wreckage after the earlier attack on the security firm in Kandahar
September 12, 2008
KABUL (Reuters) -- At least 23 people were killed when Taliban insurgents ambushed a U.S. security firm convoy in southwestern Afghanistan on September 12, provincial officials said, in the second attack on the firm in as many days.
Farah provincial police chief Khalilullah Rahmani said 15 of the dead were Taliban militants killed in the fighting that broke out following the ambush.
Rahmani said U.S. Protection and Investigations, a firm involved in escorting supplies for coalition forces, also suffered casualties, but he had no details.
"The Taliban militants attacked the convoy with heavy machine guns; four vehicles were set on fire," said a provincial official who asked not to be named.
He said four Afghan guards and four civilians had been killed in the ambush that took place when the convoy was passing through Bakwa district in Farah Province.
Another convoy of the security firm was attacked on September 11 in Kandahar city and two people were killed.
Separately, the U.S military said coalition forces had killed more than 10 militants and detained two during operations in eastern Afghanistan that also targeted the network of veteran Taliban commander
Jalaluddin Haqqani.