Afghans shout anti-U.S. slogans

Afghans shout anti-U.S. slogans as they hold posters of injured children at a protest on the occasion of Afghanistan's Independence Day in Jalalabad, east of Kabul, Thursday, Aug. 19, 2010. Afghanistan marked independence day Thursday as the long war drags on, with foreign troop death at record high and the government under pressure to honor pledges on corruption and security (A caption of an AP photo, August 19, 2010).

Taliban attack road crew in south Afghanistan

By Amir Shah And Mirwais Khan, Associated Press Writer –

August 19, 2010

KABUL, Afghanistan –

Taliban fighters attacked a road construction crew Thursday in southern Afghanistan and several people have been killed and wounded, officials and witnesses said.

Also Thursday, the U.S. command said an American service member was killed the day before in fighting in the south, where (US-led forces) are pushing into areas long held by Taliban fighters. The death brought to at least 17 the number of U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan this month. Sixty-six American troops died in July — the deadliest month for U.S. forces in the nearly 9-year-old war.

The attack on the road crew occurred in the Sangin district of Helmand province, according to a company employee, Salam Khan Durrani. He said several people had been killed or wounded but he had no precise figures because fighting was still raging at midday.

Provincial spokesman Dawood Ahmadi said the crew and its security guards had called for help by Afghan security forces but he had no other details.

The crew was working on the main road from Sangin to the provincial capital Lashkar Gah. Sangin has been the scene of bloody fighting between the Taliban and coalition forces.

In neighboring Kandahar province, eight NATO service members were injured when their helicopter made a hard landing during a joint Afghan and coalition operation. According to initial reports, the aircraft was not taking enemy fire. An investigation is under way.

In the east, a joint Afghan and NATO force killed 12 (Taliban fighter, incorrectly referred to in this report as insurgents, as insurgents fight their own government, while Taliban fighters fight NATO foreign forces and Afghanis recruited by them) Wednesday in Puli Alam district of Logar province, the coalition said. Among those killed was Qari Muir, who had held several Taliban positions, including deputy shadow governor, military commander and the insurgent group's intelligence chief for Logar, NATO said.

The (Taliban fighters) were observed preparing an attack on coalition forces and were killed in airstrikes, the coalition said. A weapons cache, which included rockets, mines, ammunition and bomb-making equipment also was destroyed.

Also in eastern Afghanistan, coalition and Afghan forces killed three (Afghanis) who were members of a group called Jamaat-ud-Dawa, NATO said. Jamaat-ud-Dawa is a Pakistan-based group that is believed to be a front for Lashkar-e-Taiba.

It was unclear whether the dead were Pakistanis or from an Afghan wing.

NATO also reported that technical problems forced one of its unmanned aerial vehicles to make an emergency landing Wednesday in Kunduz province. The vehicle is a lightweight, medium-range reconnaissance and surveillance aircraft that is not armed.

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Khan reported from Kandahar.