Afghans say insurgency is growing in Nimroz

[unhappycamper]

Mullah Gul Ahmad Ahmadi, a member of the Provincial Council of Nimroz province, speaks June 9 during an interview in Kabul, Afghanistan. After death threats and an armed attack that killed a colleague, Nimroz governing council members have fled to Kabul, saying they fear more Taliban will come to their areas now that NATO is stepping up operations to the east in Helmand province.


Afghans say insurgency is growing in Nimroz
By Heidi Vogt - The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Jun 11, 2010 14:32:35 EDT

KABUL, Afghanistan — The governing council of a once peaceful province in southwestern Afghanistan has fled to Kabul after the Taliban killed one of their members and threatened the others with death. They fear U.S.-led offensives to the east may simply be pushing insurgents into new areas.

The council members from Nimroz province talk of a rising tide of violence and intimidation as Taliban fighters who have been forced out of neighboring Helmand province, which includes Marjah, shift operations to Nimroz. They say other militants have been crossing into Nimroz from Iran, where they trained at desert camps.

A spokesman for U.S. Marines based in Nimroz insists security has improved in the remote province along the border with Iran and Pakistan.

But Afghan provincial officials say the approximately 2,000 U.S. Marines and 1,000 Afghan soldiers operate primarily in the northeast — 130 miles from the provincial capital, Zaranj — and are unaware of conditions elsewhere in the province.

Nimroz had generally been regarded as peaceful until May 5, when nine suicide bombers disguised as police stormed the provincial council office in Zaranj, about 500 miles southwest of Kabul, killing a woman council member, two police officers and a visitor. All the attackers died. Police said it was the worst attack in Nimroz in two years.



unhappycamper comment: For some reason, this reminds me of whack-a-mole. :shrug: