Coalition warplanes bombed caves in central Afghanistan after at least five heavily-armed extremists ambushed US Special Forces as they picked their way through a remote mountain valley, the US military said on Tuesday.
Colonel Roger King said the patrol was attacked at dawn on Monday by machine guns and rocket propelled grenades (RPGs) from overhead ridges as it was exploring Bahgran valley in northern Uruzgan province.
There were no US casualties from the attack, which occurred at around 6:30 am (0200 GMT), King told reporters at Bagram air base, a US military command centre north of Kabul.
”Close air support was requested, and coalition F-16s dropped five 226 kilogrammes bombs. More than 100 rounds of 20mm ammunition was fired on three targets consisting of various caves and at least five armed men.”
He said there was no indication whether any extremist casualties in the exchange.
”They were located on a mountainside overlooking the valley, they were over two kilometres away.
”We had troops that were moving through the valley, just around dawn. Troops came under fire from the ridges on either side. Special Forces are conducting an operation in the valley looking for weapons caches,” he said, adding that the operation was continuing.
King said the attack was unlikely to be related to a clash two weeks ago near the south-eastern border town of Spin Boldak, in which coalition forces killed 18 rebels in the Adi Ghar mountain cave complex.
The operation, involving US and Norwegian warplanes, was the biggest confrontation involving the US military in Afghanistan for 10 months.
Rebels loyal to the Hezb-i-Islami party of renegade warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar were said to be using Adi Ghar cave warren as a base.
Hekmatyar’s men have been linked by the US to the former Taliban regime and the al-Qaeda terror network. ”The only thing that connects it is we think it is a common enemy. We don’t necessarily know that they’re working together because they have no ability to coordinate. – Sapa-AFP