seruriermarshal
06-04-2004, 12:58 AM
Militants rocket U.S. base, flee to Pakistan
LWARA, Afghanistan, June 3 (*******) Suspected Islamic militants fired rockets at a U.S. base in southeastern Afghanistan today, then fled across the border into Pakistan, U.S. military officers said.
Several hours later, a suspected al Qaeda suicide bomber was killed in an explosion at a checkpoint inside Pakistan that also wounded three paramilitary troops and Pakistani forces detained three foreign militants disguised as women.
It was not clear if the militants who appeared in Pakistan were part of the group that had carried out the rocket attack, which occurred about 40 km away, just inside Afghanistan.
Two rockets were heard whooshing over Camp Tillman near Lwara in the Afghan province of Paktika before dawn. They landed on a hillside causing loud explosions and shaking the ground, but caused no casualties, U.S. military officials said.
Afghan soldiers immediately returned fire with mortars and heavy machineguns but apparently inflicted no casualties on the attackers, they said.
U.S. and Afghan forces then pursued a red pickup truck thought to have fired the rockets until it crossed the border into Pakistan, when they were forced to abandon the chase.
Pakistan is a key ally of the United States in the war on terror launched after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, but it has forbidden U.S. forces to pursue militants into its territory.
''Like any opponent they are taking advantage of the options available to them,'' U.S. army Captain Jason Junkins, an officer training Afghan army troops at Lwara said of the insurgents' flight into Pakistan.
From (http://www.deepikaglobal.com/ENG4_sub.asp?ccode=ENG4&newscode=55620)
LWARA, Afghanistan, June 3 (*******) Suspected Islamic militants fired rockets at a U.S. base in southeastern Afghanistan today, then fled across the border into Pakistan, U.S. military officers said.
Several hours later, a suspected al Qaeda suicide bomber was killed in an explosion at a checkpoint inside Pakistan that also wounded three paramilitary troops and Pakistani forces detained three foreign militants disguised as women.
It was not clear if the militants who appeared in Pakistan were part of the group that had carried out the rocket attack, which occurred about 40 km away, just inside Afghanistan.
Two rockets were heard whooshing over Camp Tillman near Lwara in the Afghan province of Paktika before dawn. They landed on a hillside causing loud explosions and shaking the ground, but caused no casualties, U.S. military officials said.
Afghan soldiers immediately returned fire with mortars and heavy machineguns but apparently inflicted no casualties on the attackers, they said.
U.S. and Afghan forces then pursued a red pickup truck thought to have fired the rockets until it crossed the border into Pakistan, when they were forced to abandon the chase.
Pakistan is a key ally of the United States in the war on terror launched after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, but it has forbidden U.S. forces to pursue militants into its territory.
''Like any opponent they are taking advantage of the options available to them,'' U.S. army Captain Jason Junkins, an officer training Afghan army troops at Lwara said of the insurgents' flight into Pakistan.
From (http://www.deepikaglobal.com/ENG4_sub.asp?ccode=ENG4&newscode=55620)