The Afghan-Pakistani Border

Attacks into Pakistan justified: Afghan president
Posted 5 minutes ago

Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai says he has the right to send troops across the border into Pakistan to confront militants based there.

He was speaking at a news conference as the security forces search for hundreds of militants who escaped from jail on Friday after a suicide attack by the Taliban.

President Karzai says that when militants such as the tribal leader Baitullah Mehsud cross over from Pakistan to kill Afghans and foreign troops, Aghanistan will retaliate.

"Afghanistan has the right of self defence," he said.

"When they cross the territory from Pakistan to come and kill Afghans and kill coalition troops it exactly gives us the right to go back and do the same.

"Baitullah Mehsud should know that we will go after him now and hit him in his house.

"This is a two-way road in this case and Afghans are good in the two way road journey."

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At least 27 dead in hunt for Afghan escapees
Posted 19 minutes ago

More than two dozen insurgents were killed in Afghanistan as security forces hunted for hundreds of militants who escaped from a prison after a brazen Taliban attack, police said.

Afghan and international troops have been searching for more than 1,100 escapees who fled after the militant group blasted open the jail in the southern city of Kandahar late on Friday, killing several prison guards.

The prison raid was a blow to Afghan President Hamid Karzai, coming one day after world donors pledged $US20 billion to rebuild Afghanistan at a conference in Paris - but also called on him to strengthen the rule of law.

More than 15 militants were killed at a farm compound in restive Kandahar province during the search for the escapees, the US-led coalition said in a statement.

"The combined forces used precision air strikes to destroy the compound after insurgents attacked with small-arms fire," it said.
.....Mr Saqeb added that about 20 people, mostly criminals who broke out of the prison, had been recaptured in the past two days.

The police chief said that nine police guards and a child were killed during the Taliban attack on the jail on Friday.

........He said authorities had issued a warning to the escaped prisoners to return to the jail "or their charges will be doubled," calling on residents not to shelter the escapees to avoid punishment.

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NATO's International Security Assistance Force, which is separate from the US-led coalition, said more than 1,100 prisoners had escaped.

Afghan deputy justice minister Mohammad Qasim Hashimzai said the attack was the most sophisticated yet by the militants, who were removed from government in late 2001 in a US-led invasion.

A Taliban spokesman, Yousuf Ahmadi, said the rebels had used suicide bombs and detonated a bomb-laden water tanker in the attack.

Amir Mohammad Jamshid, the head of prisons at the ministry of justice, said some "important Taliban" were among those who escaped.

Despite the presence of about 70,000 international troops mainly operating under NATO, the insurgency aimed at toppling the US-backed government in Kabul has gained pace in the past two years.

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Insurgents have killed nine US soldiers in an assault on an Afghan army and NATO outpost in north-eastern Afghanistan overnight, making it one of the worst days for foreign troops casualties in the country since 2001.

Afghanistan is suffering from a rising tide of violence this year, with a sharp increase in Taliban attacks, especially in the east where NATO says militants have taken advantage of peace deals in Pakistan to cross the border and fight in Afghanistan.

"The fighting began in the early morning hours and continued into the day as insurgents were repulsed from an Afghan National Army and ISAF combat outpost," a statement by the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said.

The dead soldiers were all American, a NATO official said.

Fifteen ISAF troops and four Afghan soldiers were also wounded in the fighting.

"Although no final assessment has been made, it is believed insurgents suffered heavy casualties during several hours of fighting," it said.

The fighting took place in the north-eastern province of Kunar, close to the border with Pakistan and also to neighbouring Nuristan province.

Afghan authorities said earlier in the day five Pakistani Taliban were killed and 13 more wounded after they infiltrated Nuristan province on Saturday (local time).

The Defence Ministry said dozens of insurgents were killed and dozens more wounded in a counter-attack by the Afghan army in Nuristan on Sunday... etc

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