Nato aircraft struck insurgent strongholds near the Afghan capital which the military said today killed two dozen rebels, including a Taliban commander, as a foreign soldier lost his life in bomb attack in the south.
The soldier, whose nationality was not revealed, died in a blast yesterday, Nato's International Security Assistance Force said.
The death brings to 437 the number of international troops who have died in the Afghan war so far this year, according to a tally by AFP based on that kept by the independent website icasualties.org.
Many of those deaths have been caused by improvised explosive devices (IEDs) which are the main weapon in the Taliban's arsenal, along with suicide bomb attacks and targeted assassinations.
The International Security Assistance Force said two dozen rebels were killed yesterday in air raids on their hideouts in the province of Logar, just south of Kabul, which is marked by Taliban violence.
The raids were part of an operation launched in the province to capture a Taliban commander, Qari Muir, the multinational force said.
"During the operation, 12 Taliban insurgents, including Muir, were killed," it said in a statement.
Nato said Muir was a former Taliban deputy shadow governor, military commander and intelligence chief for Logar province.
Elsewhere in Logar, Nato said nine rebels were killed when another air strike targeted Taliban militants preparing an attack.
Three other militants were killed in a separate air strike, the force said.
The death tolls could not be independently verified.
Nato said eight of its soldiers were wounded when a military helicopter made a "hard landing" in the southern province of Kandahar.
The force quoted initial assessments as saying that enemy fire was not responsible for the emergency landing.
A police commander and three of his officers were killed in a Taliban-style bomb explosion in Kandahar yesterday, Afghan authorities and Nato said.
Several other people, including civilians were injured, they said.
* AFP
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Marie Byrne, a counsellor who volunteers at the UAE government's mental health crisis helpline, said the ordeal the crew had been through would take time to overcome.
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The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
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Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
MWTC info
Tickets to the MWTC range from Dh100 and can be purchased from www.ticketmaster.ae or by calling 800 86 823 from within the UAE or 971 4 366 2289 from outside the country and all Virgin Megastores. Fans looking to attend all three days of the MWTC can avail of a special 20 percent discount on ticket prices.
Hili 2: Unesco World Heritage site
The site is part of the Hili archaeological park in Al Ain. Excavations there have proved the existence of the earliest known agricultural communities in modern-day UAE. Some date to the Bronze Age but Hili 2 is an Iron Age site. The Iron Age witnessed the development of the falaj, a network of channels that funnelled water from natural springs in the area. Wells allowed settlements to be established, but falaj meant they could grow and thrive. Unesco, the UN's cultural body, awarded Al Ain's sites - including Hili 2 - world heritage status in 2011. Now the most recent dig at the site has revealed even more about the skilled people that lived and worked there.