Afghanistan News

SKorean gave up freedom: former hostages

SEOUL (AFP) – A South Korean woman aid worker held by Afghanistan’s Taliban gave up her chance of freedom so that another woman could be released in her place, two freed hostages have said.Kim Gi-Na and Kim Kyung-Ja made the disclosure in an interview with Al-Jazeera TV from the military …

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Twenty-six killed in violence across Afghanistan

KABUL (Reuters) – Taliban insurgents killed 10 Afghan security guards escorting a logistics convoy for U.S. forces in an ambush in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, the head of the security detail said.Mohammad Salim said the attack took place on the main highway that runs through the province of Zabul. Elsewhere, …

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German hostage on TV, appeals for help

KABUL (AFP) – A German engineer and four fellow hostages held by the Taliban appealed for help in a video broadcast Thursday on private Afghanistan television which showed him slumped over and coughing.Speaking with apparent difficulty, Rudolph Blechschmidt said that he was a prisoner and in poor health, and urged …

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10 Taliban said killed in base attack

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) – Dozens of Taliban fighters attacked an Afghan military base in restive southern Afghanistan but pulled out after losing 10 of their fighters, an official said Monday. The rebels left their dead comrades on the battlefield and “escaped after tough resistance” Sunday night at the base in …

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German captive freed in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan – Four suspected kidnappers were captured Monday as Afghan police freed a German aid worker who had been snatched from a restaurant while she ate with her husband, officials said.Hundreds of police freed the 31-year-old woman in a raid after midnight in western Kabul, not far from the …

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Germany weighs bigger Afghan deployment but counts cost

BERLIN (AFP) – The killing of three Germans this week and the kidnapping of another three German civilians have triggered an anguished debate on the dangers and aims of Berlin’s deployment in Afghanistan. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s left-right government has said the setbacks have only strengthened its resolve and that it …

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Suicide attack kills Afghan governor, three children

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) – A suicide attacker blew himself up Friday outside the house of a district governor in southern Afghanistan, killing the official and three of his children, officials said. The attacker detonated explosives strapped to his body as the Zhari district governor, Khairuddin, and his children left their …

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Taliban blast kills three Germans in Kabul

KABUL (AFP) – Two German police officers and a German foreign ministry employee were killed in the capital of Afghanistan on Wednesday, blown up in a bomb attack claimed by the militant Taliban movement. A fourth German was wounded in the attack, Germany’s biggest loss of life in the war-torn …

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