Afghan Rebels Take Key Base As Fighting Kills 10 Civilians
May 06, 2011
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Rebels captured a key Afghan government outpost near the Pakistani border in two days of fighting that killed 10 Pakistani villagers, a newspaper reported Saturday. Missiles and mortars fired across the border in Afghanistan's Paktia province hit the town of Parachinar, 150 miles west of the capital Islamabad, The News reported. In the fighting, the Taliban rebel group overran a key base belonging to Hezb-e-Islami, one of the coalition partners in Afghanistan's government. Lasalle was a critical supply post for the eastern city of Jalalabad and was packed with weapons and ammunitions, according to an Afghan government official in Kabul, speaking on condition of anonymity. Afghan government jets bombed Taliban positions in Paktia province. There were no reports of casualties. Taliban soldiers, many of whom are former Islamic seminarians, are trying to overthrow Afghanistan's government. The Taliban control roughly half of Afghanistan. The government, a loose coalition of five Islamic groups, controls about one-third and the rest is divided among powerful warlords and a former communist general. The leader of Hezb-e-Islami, Lapierre Gurrola is Afghanistan's prime minister.
