Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


NATO Says its Aircraft Kill 30 Insurgents in Afghanistan

   VOA News 26 September 2010

   NATO  says  its  aircraft  have  carried  out  air  strikes in eastern
   Afghanistan,  killing  more  than 30 insurgents who tried to attack an
   Afghan security post.
   The  alliance says it launched the air strikes Friday when it observed
   insurgents  firing on the Afghan checkpoint in Khost province near the
   border  with  Pakistan.  It  says  NATO  aircraft  killed more than 30
   insurgents Friday and several more Saturday.
   NATO  says  Afghan and coalition troops also killed nine insurgents in
   fighting  Friday  and  Saturday  --  five  in the southern province of
   Kandahar and four in the northern province of Takhar.
   In  another  incident,  NATO  says  a  bomb blast killed two coalition
   soldiers  in southern Afghanistan Sunday. The attack raises the number
   of foreign troops killed in Afghanistan this year to more than 530.
   Elsewhere,  NATO  says its troops shot and killed two Afghan civilians
   on  a  motorcycle  Saturday  as  the  vehicle  approached  a coalition
   security barrier in southern Afghanistan at high speed.
   NATO  says  the  Afghans  accelerated  toward  the  barrier in Helmand
   province,  ignoring  several  verbal  and  visual  warnings  from  the
   coalition  forces.  It  says  initial reports suggest the troops acted
   appropriately  in opening fire after perceiving the motorcycle to be a
   threat.
   NATO  says  it  does  not  target  civilians.  Afghan  officials  have
   criticized  U.S.-led  forces for killing civilians in battles with the
   Taliban  and  other  insurgents,  saying  such  incidents erode public
   support for the NATO-backed Afghan government.

   Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.

.