NATO airstrike kills four Afghan security guards

Kabul - A NATO airstrike killed four guards working for a private security company in southern Afghan province of Helmand, officials said Wednesday 2nd March.

One more guard was injured in the strike in Gerishk district on Tuesday, said Mohammad Hakim Andar, provincial police chief. The men were providing security for a road construction firm in the region, he said.

Major Michael Johnson, spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), said a joint investigation with Afghan officials was underway into incident.

The military engaged a group of suspected militants in the area after an ISAF ground patrol was attacked, Johnson said.

'Following the engagement we heard allegations that four security guards were killed,' he said.
'Friendly fire' casualties are not rare in southern Afghanistan. where the militants often operate in the vicinity of local forces.

Taliban are still most active in Helmand and neighbouring Kandahar, despite a reduction in their presence after major operations by NATO forces in the region last year.

Source: Deutsche Presse-Agentur

British Tornado foils Taliban ambush

A RAF Tornado GR4 crew on a surveillance mission was diverted to launch an air assault on Taliban fighters who had ambushed UK troops on patrol in Helmand.

Ground troops called in an air strike after they were pinned down by enemy insurgents during a fierce fire fight close to a suspected Taliban bomb-making factory hidden in a compound.

Pilot Squadron Leader Tom Hill and weapons systems operator Flight Lieutenant Ben Dempster were providing armed overwatch to another Tornado on a RAPTOR (Reconnaissance Airborne Pod for Tornado) surveillance mission when ground commanders called in an air strike.

Within minutes the aircraft was over the compound and had launched a machine gun attack on the insurgent fighters, allowing the UK troops to break off and regroup.

The aircraft remained overhead until British Army Apache attack helicopters arrived. After refuelling, the GR4 team resumed their RAPTOR surveillance task.

Troops later secured the compound, and a search uncovered a significant haul of weapons and bomb-making equipment.

Source: MOD

Merkel faces questions over airstrike in Afghanistan

Afghanistan 10.2.2001

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her former Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier are due to answer questions on a military airstrike that killed dozens of civilians in Afghanistan in September 2009.

For over a year a parliamentary inquiry has been investigating the events surrounding the German-ordered airstrike in Kunduz, Afghanistan which killed more than 100 people and injured 11 in September 2009. On Thursday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is to face the inquiry's questioning.

All soldiers and politicians who participated in the decisions surrounding the deadly strike - including current Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg - have been questioned for hours, and slowly an overall picture of events is being rebuilt.

Read full story at Deutsche Welle

Airstrike on Haqqani Network Leader

KABUL, Afghanistan (Feb. 8, 2011) — Coalition forces targeted a Haqqani Network leader with a precision airstrike that wounded two insurgents who were returning from a mountain with a cache loaded on pack mules in Sabari district, Khost province, yesterday.