Five insurgents dead after Polish troops thwart Taliban ambush

According to Major Szczepan Gluszczak, press spokesman for the Polish troops in Afghanistan, special monitoring devices enabled the Poles to thwart the ambush.

Six insurgents, presumably Taliban fighters, were detected on Tuesday evening, planting what later turned out to be land mines.

As Major Gluszczak told Polish Radio, a Rapid Reaction Force was immediately dispatched to the scene, opening fire on the insurgents with back-up from F-16 fighters.

Five of the insurgents fighters were killed in the incident, and besides explosives, four machine guns were among the items later found at the scene.

In a similar incident the same day, another group of insurgents was sighted laying explosives. No one was killed in this encounter, although 60 kg of explosives was later retrieved from the site.

This week also saw the 30th Pole to die in Afghanistan, when Lance Corporal Rafal Nowakowski perished after an improvised exploding device (IED) went off beneath a Polish armoured vehicle in the Ghazni Province.

Friday marks the tenth anniversary of the war in Afghanistan. Poland currently has 2500 military personnel stationed in the country. (nh/pg)


Source: IAR