AFGHANASTAN: At least 15 people died when suspected al-Qaeda gunmen attacked an Afghan army base in southern Kabul yesterday, in one of the most serious battles in the capital for months.
Shortly after dawn a group of about 20 men, described as Arabs and Pakistanis thought to be loyal to al-Qaeda, opened fire on an army garrison at Bagram-i, about six miles south of the city centre.
For three hours Afghan soldiers at the base fought back with rocket-propelled grenades and chased the gunmen to the foothills of nearby mountains. Trapped up against a steep mountain slope, 11 gunmen were killed. Large bloodstains covered the scree after their bodies were removed.
"They were Arabs and Pakistanis," Mr Bismillah Khan, garrison commander and a senior military figure in the Northern Alliance, said. He said the gunmen "came from the south of Kabul, from the direction of the mountains and villages".
Three Afghan soldiers and one civilian were killed in the gun battle. No US troops were at the army base but Americans in civilian clothes were seen inspecting the mountainside later.
In a separate incident on Tuesday, US troops shot dead four men in the province of Kunar, 90 miles north-east of Kabul. At first US officials insisted that five gunmen, believed to be members of al-Qaeda, ambushed a patrol of 30 US special forces troops and shot at them from a car. A spokesman said money was recovered from the car.
However, local tribal leaders disputed the account. Hours later the US withdrew the suggestion of an ambush and said one of the men in the car had pointed a Kalashnikov rifle at the troops but it had misfired. A spokeswoman at the main US military base at Bagram, said: "Because he showed hostile intent, US forces engaged. No shots were fired from the vehicle, due to the misfire."
Mr Jan Shah, the Kunar provincial intelligence chief, said US troops opened fire when the car failed to stop for a search. He said an investigation was under way to determine whether the dead men were armed. - (Guardian Service)