Taliban responsible for killings, says chief

By The Associated Press

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In a satellite-telephone call to Reuters news service, a Taliban commander identified as Sabir Momin claimed responsibility for the killings.

"The two British nonbelievers and their Afghan translator were killed by the Taliban because the Taliban are killing all locals and foreigners who are helping the Americans to consolidate their occupation of Afghanistan," he said.

Meanwhile, a U.S. soldier was killed and 16 others injured yesterday when their truck veered off the road and rolled over near the Afghan capital, Kabul, the U.S. military said.

On Sunday, U.S. soldiers strayed into Pakistani territory while hunting al-Qaida and Taliban suspects in southeastern Afghanistan but returned across the border after Pakistani troops told them where they were, a military official said yesterday.

U.S. soldiers in at least three military vehicles entered Pakistan's Lowara Mandi in the North Waziristan tribal region Sunday evening, said Pakistan army spokesman Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan. The U.S. troops went 200 to 300 yards inside Pakistan across a rugged, mountainous border that is not clearly marked, he said.

Such incidents are highly sensitive. President Gen. Pervez Musharraf is a staunch U.S. ally but has refused to allow U.S. soldiers to operate on his territory, fearing a backlash from religious conservatives.

Pakistan, which has deployed about 70,000 troops along its border with Afghanistan, has rejected U.S. requests for the right of "hot pursuit" to follow terrorism suspects over the border while engaged in combat.

"We feel it was an inadvertent crossing," Sultan said. "It could not be termed hot pursuit."

But Pakistan's Foreign Ministry viewed the incident more seriously. Ministry spokesman Masood Khan said the government has lodged a protest with the United States and demanded an inquiry.

The incursion came as U.S. and Afghan officials criticized a Pakistani offer to grant amnesty to terrorism suspects in return for renouncing violence. Lt. Gen. David Barno, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, said Tuesday that a policy of appeasement would only delay an inevitable battle with the terrorists.

In March, Pakistani security forces carried out a massive operation in the tribal region that left more than 120 people dead, including soldiers, terrorism suspects and bystanders. But no senior al-Qaida or Taliban figures were netted. Some 163 people were arrested, but most have since been released.

The United Nations said the killings of the election workers would slow a drive to register some 10 million Afghans for the September vote, but officials promised to press on despite the surging Taliban-led violence.

The Britons and their translator were killed in Nuristan province, 100 miles east of Kabul, said Global Risk Strategies, a London-based security company. The company did not identify them but said they had been working with the United Nations.

Global Risk Strategies said "local bandits" were believed to be behind the attack, but Afghan officials said it was unclear if it was a "criminal or a terrorist incident."

"Unfortunately, we have a lot of irresponsible armed people in this country," Interior Ministry spokesman Latfulla Mashal said.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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