Afghan rebels attack coalition forces

Coalition forces are fighting a pitched battle against a group of 80 rebel forces aligned to renegade leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar in the largest-scale fighting in nine months, the US military said today.

At least 18 rebel fighters were killed, and there were no coalition casualties.

“It’s the largest concentration of enemy forces since Operation Anaconda,” US military spokesman Roger King said from Bagram Air Base, a reference to fighting in March in eastern Afghanistan that involved the greatest number of American troops in the Afghan war.

American war planes attacked enemy positions with B-1 bombers, F-16s and AC-130 gunships, King said.

The fighting in mountains in south-eastern Afghanistan near the border with Pakistan was sparked by a small shoot-out in which one man was killed, one injured and one detained, King said. He added that the detained man said under questioning that a large group of men had massed in the mountain areas.

King said the military sent Apache helicopters to the area to investigate, and they came under small arms fire. The military responded with a quick-reaction force of fighter aircraft that were continuing to pound the remote region with 500lb and 2,000lb bombs.

He said some of the fighters were dug in in caves.