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FACTBOX: Security developments in Afghanistan

Tue Aug 19, 2008 7:38am EDT

(Reuters) - Following are security developments in Afghanistan at 1100 GMT (7 a.m. EDT) on Tuesday:

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* indicates new or updated items.

* KABUL - Ten French soldiers of NATO-led forces were killed and 21 more wounded on Monday in a major battle with the Taliban insurgents in the Ouzbin region to the east of Kabul, Afghan and French military officials said.

Thirteen militants were killed and 14 wounded in the clashes, the Afghan defense ministry said on Tuesday, adding two Afghan soldiers were wounded.

The Taliban said on its website that the militants had killed 20 U.S. soldiers in the Ouzbin fighting, which erupted after they ambushed a joint Afghan-NATO convoy on Monday night.

KHOST - NATO troops and Taliban fighters clashed on Tuesday after a group of insurgents, backed by suicide bombers, tried to breach the defenses of the main U.S. base in southeastern Afghanistan late on Monday, officials said.

Six suicide bombers were killed, NATO said, while the Afghan Defense Ministry put the number at 13. There were also several casualties among civilians, a provincial official said, adding one U.S. soldier was killed and four Afghan troops were wounded.

The Taliban website said the insurgents had suffered no casualties from the attack on the base in Khost, where 15 militant suicide bombers armed with light and heavy weapons staged the attack.

It said the guerrillas had inflicted heavy casualties on foreign troops.

The Taliban could not be reached for comment about the other reported incidents which follow:

KANDAHAR - A suicide bomber targeted a group of Canadian soldiers from the NATO-led force in southern Kandahar on Tuesday, an official said. An Afghan translator was killed, while one soldier and a local girl were wounded in the attack, he added.

KABUL - Two rockets were fired at the centre of Kabul overnight but caused no casualties or damage, the Interior Ministry said on Tuesday.

HELMAND - More than 10 insurgents have been killed and a similar number wounded in a clash in southern Helmand province, the Defense Ministry said.

HELMAND - A British soldier from the NATO-led force was killed by Taliban guerrillas while on a patrol in Helmand on Monday, NATO said.

GHAZNI - Residents said U.S.-led troops killed one civilian and arrested four more in a raid in Ghazni province on Monday. The U.S. military said the victim and those arrested were militants.

KAPISA - NATO and Afghan police killed six Taliban insurgents, including a senior commander, in an operation in Kapisa province overnight, the interior ministry said on Tuesday.

PAKTIA - Afghan police and U.S.-led coalition forces arrested Mullah Basir, the main Taliban commander for southeastern Paktia province, the interior ministry said.

* KUNAR - A roadside bomb hit a convoy of U.S.-led coalition troops in eastern Kunar province on Tuesday, wounding one soldier, the U.S. military said.

(Compiled by Sayed Salahuddin; Editing by Valerie Lee)



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