KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, 11 August 2005 — Taleban guerrillas shot dead an Afghan woman for allegedly spying for US forces as an American soldier died in a roadside bombing, US and local officials said yesterday. The attacks, both on Tuesday, highlight security fears as the ousted regime continues a campaign of violence ahead of Sept. 18’s landmark parliamentary polls.
The dead woman, whose name was not revealed, was dragged from her house in Mizan district in the troubled southern province of Zabul on Tuesday night, district chief Mohammad Younus told AFP. “She was later shot dead by the Taleban,” Younus said.
Taleban spokesman Abdul Latif Hakimi said the rebels had killed the woman “because she was spying for the American invaders”. Speaking in a telephone call from an undisclosed location, he added that two male relatives of the victim were also seized by the Taleban but were alive.
Zabul, a hotbed for militia activities, has been the scene of several clashes between US and militant forces this year, with 17 people including a US soldier dying in a firefight there Monday.
Separately on Tuesday, a US soldier died and another was wounded after a bomb hit their vehicle in the neighboring province of Ghazni, the US military said.
“Two service members were initially reported wounded and both were evacuated to Bagram airfield for treatment. The service member died of his wounds shortly after arrival,” it said. The other soldier was in stable condition.
The troops, part of the almost 19,000-strong US-led coalition in Afghanistan, had been conducting an operation to root out militants hiding in the rugged terrain. Five US soldiers have died in Afghanistan in the past week. Last Thursday, one was killed when a blast hit a Humvee and two others drowned when another Humvee slid into a river. Another soldier died in a Taleban ambush on Monday.
This year is already the worst in Afghanistan for American forces, who moved in to help topple the Taleban in late 2001, with the death of 65 US service members taking part in Operation Enduring Freedom — more than half in hostile fire.
Last year, 52 soldiers were killed in and around Afghanistan compared with 47 in 2003, 43 in 2002 and 12 in 2001, according to US military statistics.
The Taleban have defied earlier pronouncements by Afghan and US officials that they are a spent force, launching a renewed wave of attacks since the beginning of the year. Nearly 900 people, many of them militants, have died in Afghanistan in political violence since the beginning of 2005.
