March 28, 2008

More Misery for Afghans

Taliban declares start of new Afghan offensive
Thu 27 Mar 2008, 21:00 GMT
LONDON (Reuters) - The Taliban announced the start of a spring offensive in Afghanistan, promising "painful strikes" to force all enemy soldiers to leave, according to a Web message seen by a U.S.-based monitoring service on Thursday.
[...] The Web message entitled "Taliban declares beginning of spring offensive in Afghanistan" was from Mullah Bradar Akhund, who styles himself deputy emir of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, according to a translation by the SITE Institute terrorism monitoring service seen in London.
[...] The Web statement said the Taliban would employ "new types of operations" across the country, according to the SITE Institute.
Last year saw a record level of violence in Afghanistan that killed nearly 6,000 people, about a third of them civilians. More than 200 foreign troops were killed in Afghanistan in 2007.
(Writing by Alison Williams: Editing by Keith Weir)http://africa.reuters.com/world/news/usnL27199594.html

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