Articles found April 27, 2013
Pakistan plans to seal Afghan border, restrict movement of Afghan refugees May 11 for election
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April 26, 2013 Associated Press
ISLAMABAD – Pakistani officials say they'll seal their border with Afghanistan and restrict the movement of Afghan refugees on May 11 during parliamentary elections.
Officials at the Interior Ministry and the election commission said Friday the measure is aimed at preventing terrorist attacks during the vote.
Officials did not say how they would restrict the movement of hundreds of thousands of people spread out across the country or close the porous border.
Pakistan announced similar measures in the past but failed to take action.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters.
About 1.6 million registered Afghan refugees and 1 million other Afghans live in Pakistan.
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Fiery bus crash blamed on Taliban insurgents kills 45 in Afghanistan
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April 26, 2013 Associated Press
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – A bus collided on Friday with the wreckage of a truck that had been attacked by Taliban insurgents in southern Afghanistan, killing 45 people aboard the bus in a fiery crash, officials said.
The battered oil tanker had been left in the middle of a narrow road near the border of Kandahar and Helmand provinces for several days after insurgents attacked it. Police considered the area too dangerous to enter, the officials said.
Before sunrise Friday, the bus smashed into the truck and burst into flames, said Abdul Razaq, the provincial police chief of Kandahar.
As police, soldiers and ambulances rushed to the desolate area, where many of the victims were burned beyond recognition, one survivor, Mohammad Habib, cried as he searched for his brother.
"I don't care about my belongings and money that were burned inside the bus, but please help me find my brother, dead or alive," he told AP Television News. "How will I face my mother without him?"
Forty-five people were killed and 10 injured, said Javeed Faisal, the spokesman for the governor of Kandahar province. He spoke to The Associated Press at Mirwais Hospital in Kandahar city, where many of the victims, including men, women and children, were being taken.
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Afghans pay in blood, losing an estimated 300 a month to take lead in fight against Taliban
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April 27, 2013 Associated Press
FORWARD OPERATING BASE CONNOLLY, Afghanistan – Afghan forces are taking over more territory and leading more operations with less U.S. help, but they are paying the price in blood.
Casualties doubled last year and are rising again to roughly 300 troops and police killed each month, according to an Afghan security official who spoke anonymously because the figure has not been publicly undisclosed.
The Americans are trying to teach them after every tactical error, while there are still enough foreign forces to serve as a safety net ahead of the December 2014 NATO troop drawdown.
U.S. and Afghan officials say their most realistic goal is for Afghan forces to maintain a bloody equilibrium with the Taliban, holding urban areas and trade routes, buying time for the economy to improve while persuading the Taliban to stop fighting.
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Plane crashes in Afghanistan, killing 4 foreign troops; Taliban announces spring offensive
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April 27, 2013 Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan – A plane crashed in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, killing four international service members on the same day the Taliban said they were gearing up to launch their spring offensive with attacks on military and diplomatic targets.
Initial reporting indicated there was no enemy activity in the area where the plane went down, the NATO-led coalition said in a statement confirming the crash. Coalition personnel secured the site and were investigating the cause of the crash, NATO said.
The brief statement did not identify the nationalities of the victims, or say exactly where the crash occurred.
However, Mohammad Jan Rasoulyar, deputy governor of the southern province of Zabul, said an aircraft belonging to foreign forces crashed Saturday afternoon in Shah Joy district. He confirmed the site had been surrounded by international forces.
The spring Taliban offensive, which is to begin on Sunday, comes as U.S.-backed efforts to try to reconcile the Islamic militant movement with the Afghan government have so far failed.
Insurgents already have stepped up attacks this spring as they try to position themselves for power ahead of national elections and the planned withdrawal of most U.S. and other foreign combat troops by the end of 2014.
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Taliban promises more insider attacks on foreign troops in annual Spring offensive
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April 27, 2013 Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan – The Taliban on Saturday announced the start of their spring offensive, signaling plans to step up attacks as the weather warms across Afghanistan, making both travel and fighting easier.
The statement comes toward the end of a month that already has been the deadliest of the year.
The militant group's leadership vowed that "every possible tactic will be utilized in order to detain or inflict heavy casualties on the foreign transgressors."
It said that will include more so-called insider attacks by members of the Afghan security forces against their colleagues or foreign troops.
Such attacks threaten the strength of the Afghan forces as they work to take over responsibility from international forces. The latest one occurred in March, when a member of Afghanistan's government-backed militia program shot and killed five of his colleagues in Badghis province in northwest Afghanistan.
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