KABUL, 9 May 2004 — An American Marine has been killed and another injured in a firefight with suspected Taleban rebels in Afghanistan as coalition forces opened up a new front in the fight against Al-Qaeda-backed extremists, the US military said yesterday.
The coalition troops came under attack overnight in the Tirin Kot area of insurgency-hit southern province of Uruzgan, Col. Tucker Mansager told reporters. “Coalition forces have reported coming under attack overnight south of Tirin Kot.
One US Marine was killed and one wounded,” he said, adding that the soldier’s name was being withheld pending next of kin notification.
“These people (Marines) were out on a mission away from their base when this attack occurred,” Mansager said, without elaborating. “I can say that it was as the result of a direct fire engagement with anti-coalition militias.”
Uruzgan, where two Marines were injured last week, is considered a stronghold of the ousted Taleban militia. It is also the home province of the Taleban’s fugitive leader Mulla Muhammad Omar.
About 2,700 Marines with the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit were deployed to Afghanistan in April to bolster the US-led force’s campaign to stamp out Taleban and Al-Qaeda militants engaged in a drawn-out guerrilla insurgency.
The Marines, whose deployment swells the 15,000-strong coalition force to its largest level since operations began in late 2001, set up a new base last week in Uruzgan, just outside the provincial capital Tirin Kot.
A US military official said the death of the Marine was the first American combat casualty in Afghanistan since two Marines died in a helicopter crash in January 2002. The death, which brought to 112 the number of US-led coalition soldiers killed in Afghanistan since late 2001 in combat and accidents, comes as the country is struggling with security ahead of landmark elections in September.
Meanwhile, hundreds of disabled Afghans and relatives of those killed in fighting against the 1979-89 Soviet occupation of Afghanistan at a rally here yesterday demanded compensation from Russia and government payouts.
Some 400 people including about 100 women gathered in front of the presidential palace chanting slogans demanding a better life.
“Russia should pay financial compensation to more than one million disabled Afghans who lost their limbs and those who lost their loved ones fighting against Soviet occupation of Afghanistan,” one of the protesters Haji Rahimullah said.
The call for compensation to the victims of the anti-Communist war came as Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah began an official visit to Russia. Dozens of the demonstrators clad in white shrouds said they were ready to die if the government did not restore their rights.
Demonstrators lined up in front of the main entrance to President Hamid Karzai’s heavily fortified palace, threatening self-immolation if their demands were not accepted.
“We wore shrouds to either get our rights or set fire to ourselves,” a protestor told AFP. “We also want the government to fix a regular salary and give us residential plots so that we can live.”
Hundreds of police deployed in the area blocked roads leading to the palace to prevent violence during the demonstration which lasted several hours. Muhammad Yosuf Atibar, an official in charge of public affairs, later invited representatives for talks at the palace.
