ARmy Rumour SErvice

From The Sunday Times
March 1, 2009
Step aside, limey, this is how to fight the Taliban

US troops are moving into Helmand, the Taliban heartland, in force
Jerome Starkey in Delaram, Farah province
THE American marines call Route 515 the most dangerous road in Afghanistan. It is a bumpy desert track linking Helmand with Iran, and until recently it was beyond the reach of anyone but smugglers.

The men from Weapons Company expect to get blown up every time they leave their camp to patrol between the poppy fields in giant mine-resistant, ambush-proof trucks. “We’ve taken some hits,� said Sergeant Marquis Summers, in an unusual moment of understatement.
More on the link
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle5821826.ece

From The Sunday Times
March 1, 2009
Iran gives Taliban helicopter missile
Michael Smith
IRAN is supplying the Taliban in Afghanistan with surface-to-air missiles capable of destroying a helicopter, according to American intelligence sources.

They believe the Taliban wants to use the SA-14 Gremlins missiles to launch a “spectacular� attack against coalition forces in Helmand, where insurgents claim to be gaining the upper hand.

Although British and American helicopters operating in southern Afghanistan are equipped with defensive systems to deflect an attempted strike, the SA-14 can evade such counter-measures.

It was a shoulder-held SA-14 supplied by Iran that was used by Iraqi insurgents to shoot down a Lynx helicopter over Basra in May 2006.
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Five British service personnel died in that attack, including Wing Commander John Coxen and Flight Lieutenant Sarah-Jayne Mulvihill, the first British servicewoman killed in action since the second world war.
More on the link
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle5822094.ece

Afghan sentenced to death over killer US air strikes

An Afghan court on Sunday sentenced a man to death for giving "wrong information" to US-led troops about insurgents that led to air strikes which killed dozens of civilians.

Mohammad Nader was sentenced to death in a primary court in the western city of Herat, capital of the province where the August 22 strikes intended for Taliban insurgents destroyed several houses.

Investigations by the Afghan government and United Nations said around 90 civilians were killed, including many children, the US military 33 civilians and 22 militants had died.

It was one of the heaviest civilian tolls since the international forces invaded Afghanistan in late 2001 to oust the Taliban government, and caused a rift in relations between Kabul and Washington.

From The Sunday Times
March 1, 2009
Missile threat to British troops
Michael Smith
IRAN is supplying the Taliban in Afghanistan with surface-to-air missiles capable of destroying a helicopter, according to American intelligence sources.

They believe the Taliban wants to use the SA-14 Gremlins missiles to launch a “spectacular� attack against coalition forces in Helmand, where insurgents claim to be gaining the upper hand.

Although British and American helicopters operating in southern Afghanistan are equipped with defensive systems to deflect an attempted strike, the SA-14 can evade such counter-measures.

It was a shoulder-held SA-14 supplied by Iran that was used by Iraqi insurgents to shoot down a Lynx helicopter over Basra in May 2006.
More on the link
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle5822094.ece

Suicide car bomb wounds 6 in E Afghanistan
www.chinaview.cn 2009-03-01 20:34:03 Print
KABUL, March 1 (Xinhua)-- Six persons, all of them civilians, were wounded as a suicide car bomb hit troops in Nangarhar province east of Afghanistan Sunday, spokesman of provincial administration Ahmad Zia Abdulzai said.

"The terrorist driving an explosive-laden car blew it up at the gate of military garrison in Jalalabad city at noon today wounding six persons all of them innocent civilians," Abdulzai told Xinhua.

There were no casualties on Afghan and U.S. troops serving there, he further said.

U.S. Missiles Hit Taliban Compound in Northwest Pakistan
Sunday, March 01, 2009
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DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan — Pakistani intelligence officials say suspected U.S. missiles have hit an alleged Taliban compound near the border with Afghanistan.

There was no immediate word on casualties.

The U.S. has escalated its missile strikes on Al Qaeda and Taliban targets in Pakistan's northwest in recent months, despite official Pakistani protests.

The strike Sunday occurred in South Waziristan, the stronghold of Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud.

Two intelligence officials confirmed the strike on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media.

Pakistan claims victory in Taliban fight
Pakistan has claimed to have defeated Taliban militants in a key border stronghold.

By Isambard Wilkinson in Khar
Last Updated: 5:20PM GMT 01 Mar 2009

Taliban fighters in the Afghan border region have been vanquished, according to the Pakistani military
Maj Gen Tariq Khan, the commander of military operations in five of Pakistan's seven tribal agencies, said his paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC) had driven extremists out of Bajaur, where Pakistani forces have waged a six-month long campaign.
He denied reports –and claims by a militant leader, Faqir Mohammmed – that the military had struck a peace deal. He said that the Taliban had been defeated and that the Taliban's announcement of a ceasefire was "propaganda
More on the link
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...ban-fight.html

Source: United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs - Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN)
Date: 01 Mar 2009

KABUL, 1 March 2009 (IRIN) - Unidentified armed men have abducted at least 10 health workers in the western province of Farah and the southern province of Zabul over the past two months, provincial officials told IRIN.

Two physicians were kidnapped on 26 February in the Mizan district of Zabul while several vaccinators and local healthcare personnel have been abducted in Farah since early January. Increased attacks on aid workers have diminished humanitarian access and have denied essential services to many vulnerable people, aid agencies say.