American Soldiers Kill 10 Followers of a Rebel Warlord in Southern Afghanistan - 2003-03-24

According to Afghan officials, American soldiers and their Afghan allies killed 10 followers of a rebel warlord in southern Afghanistan. According to the spokesman for Bachah Khan Zardaan, an Afghan warlord, anti-government militants clashed with coalition forces led by the United States yesterday on a main road connecting the cities of Gardez and Khost, during which Jilani Khan, the son of Bachah Khan Zardaan, was also killed. A spokesman for the U.S. Army confirmed the news of this clash, stating that U.S. special forces engaged with about twenty insurgents, but it is still unclear whether any insurgents were killed by American soldiers during this clash. U.S. officials are investigating the incident involving the crash of a U.S. Air Force helicopter in southern Afghanistan that resulted in the deaths of six of its occupants. The American Black Hawk helicopter, which was on a humanitarian mission to assist two injured Afghan children, crashed yesterday evening north of Ghazni, 80 kilometers south of Kabul. The cause of the helicopter crash is still unknown, but U.S. military officials emphasize that there is no evidence that the helicopter was shot down by insurgent forces. According to these officials, the mission of the American helicopter was not related to the daring attack operation. This offensive operation began earlier this month with the aim of rooting out the remnants of the ousted Taliban regime and the terrorist network al-Qaeda, which operates covertly.