Forces Kils Insurgents, Civilians in Insurgent Attacks in Afghanistan

Dispatches from the Front:

WASHINGTON, July 16, 2008 -- Insurgent attacks in Afghanistan yesterday resulted in coalition forces killing several insurgents as well as eight civilian bystanders.

In Bakwa, Farah province, eight innocent bystanders were killed and two others were wounded when a coalition aircraft dropped a precision bomb on insurgents attacking a coalition convoy, military officials said.

The convoy was conducting a routine patrol when insurgents attacked using machine-gun and artillery fire. Coalition forces called for aerial fire support against the insurgents, who were concealed within houses lined along the nearby street, officials said.

The incident is under investigation, military officials said.

Afghan national security forces and coalition troops killed an undetermined number of militants yesterday during operations in Kandahar province’s Shah Wali district.

The combined force was conducting a patrol when militants engaged them with small-arms fire and mortars from multiple directions. The coalition troops returned fire, forcing the militants into fortified positions where they were killed by precision air strikes, officials said.

(Compiled from Combined Joint Task Force 101 news releases.)

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