Vehicle Attacks Nato Foot Patrol In Afghanistan, Killing 2 Afghans

[News_Editor]

Vehicle attacks NATO foot patrol in Afghanistan, killing 2 Afghans < br />

2012-07-10 01:11:57 GMT+7 (ICT)

LASHKAR GAH, AFGHANISTAN (BNO NEWS) -- An insurgent drove his vehicle into a coalition foot patrol in southern Afghanistan on Monday, killing a linguist working for the multinational alliance and an Afghan bystander, military officials said. The driver of the vehicle was also killed.

The attack happened in the Marjah district of Helmand province, located in Afghanistan's south, when a vehicle approached a foot patrol from the rear and drove into the group. It resulted in the death of an Afghan national who was working as a linguist for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), but officials refused to say whether anyone else was injured.

Coalition service members opened fire on the vehicle after the attack, killing the driver but causing the vehicle to run over another Afghan national before it stopped. "Coalition forces established the hostile intent of the driver and fired on the vehicle in defense, which then caused it to swerve into and kill another Afghan national bystander," said 1st Lieutenant Scott Murdock, a spokesman for ISAF's Regional Command Southwest (RC-SW).

Monday's attack comes just a day after an improvised explosive device (IED) struck an armored vehicle in Wardak province, located in Afghanistan's east, killing six American soldiers. Another U.S. service member was killed in an insurgent attack in southern Afghanistan, officials said. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attacks.

There are currently more than 130,000 ISAF troops in Afghanistan, including some 90,000 U.S. troops and more than 9,500 British soldiers. U.S. President Barack Obama previously ordered a drawdown of 23,000 U.S. troops by the end of this summer, and foreign combat troops are due to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014.

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