Regional Command East - Afghanistan
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2010-08-RCE-CC-094
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BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan (Aug. 19, 2010) – Murder of innocent civilians by the Taliban continues despite an appeal to stop the bloodshed during the holy month of Ramadan, issued by Gov. Fazlullah Wahidi, Kunar provincial governor a day before the start of the observance.



Within the last seven days, the Taliban have killed three Afghan civilians and wounded another 15 in eastern Afghanistan according to coalition, Afghan government and Afghan National Security Force reports.



The civilian casualties occurred within six of the 14 provinces that comprise Regional Command-East and several of the attacks are highlighted below.



On Aug. 12, the Taliban attacked a local road maintenance team in Kapisa Province.  The team had security guards present and returned fire but the attack ended in three civilians being wounded and medically evacuated to Bagram Airfield by International Security Assistance Force soldiers.



On Aug. 14, the Taliban murdered three children and wounded an Afghan woman when they attempted to attack Forward Operating Base Salerno in Khost province.  They tried to attack the coalition base with indirect fire when two rounds landed in a village outside of the base. The woman was evacuated to a Khost hospital. The children that were murdered included three girls ages four, five and seven. The injured woman was the mother of the two youngest girls.



On Aug. 16, a joint U.S., Afghan National Army patrol received small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades from Taliban insurgents who were hiding in a cave.  The Taliban fire wounded four local civilians nearby who were then medically evacuated by ISAF forces.  The Taliban were killed when the patrol called in a precision airstrike.



Taliban forces also continued their assault on mosques with their second attack in eight days occurring in the Wardak province of eastern Afghanistan.



On Aug. 16, one Afghan civilian was shot by insurgents in a mosque during prayer time in the Maidan Shahr District. Members of the Afghan Public Protection Program (AP3) spotted a number of insurgents as they were trying to place an improvised explosive device (IED) on the highway. When confronted, the insurgents ran to the mosque where they planned to hide. Upon entering, the Taliban fighters recognized the Afghan civilian victim as the son of an AP3 commander and shot him as he was praying.  The wounded man was taken to an ISAF facility for treatment and is in stable condition.



The latest attacks continue to underscore the steady increase in the number of Afghan civilians being killed and injured daily since Mullah Omar attempted to gain control of the Taliban by issuing a ‘code of conduct’.



“These Taliban fighters have no respect for Ramazan, mosques, or any of the important tenets of Islamic culture that the average Afghan citizen holds as important,” said Maj. Patrick Seiber, Regional Command – East spokesperson.  “They continue to kill innocent civilians and are destroying the very Afghanistan they claim to be championing.”