US soldiers and warplanes drove off an insurgent attack on a new American base early yesterday, reportedly killing 19 militants in an area where rebels are trying to resist a push by coalition troops into remote mountains of eastern Afghanistan.
In the volatile south of the country, wracked by the bloodiest fighting in nearly five years, suspected Taliban rebels hanged a 70-year-old woman and her son from a tree, accusing them of spying for President Hamid Karzai's government, officials said.
Meanwhile, Karzai, whose popularity has declined because of poor security and slow progress in reconstructing the war-battered country, signaled in an interview that he won't seek reelection in elections slated for 2009.
The raid on the US base at Kamdesh in the eastern province of Nuristan -- one of the country's wildest regions -- was staged by extremists probably belonging to the Hezb-e-Islami militant group, who attacked from three directions out of forests using rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire, the US military said.
linkThis sounds like insurgetns are on offense in stead of running for cover.