Afghanistan: someone's getting whacked
ABC's The Blotter reported yesterday afternoon that a major Coalition assault is underway in Afghanistan's Kunar province, and rumor has it that we're after a high-value target:
For the past two days, U.S. and NATO forces have been conducting a major attack against a compound in a remote area of Eastern Afghanistan where Osama bin Laden or another senior al Qaeda leader may be hiding, ABC News has learned.
According to eyewitnesses and local reporters in Kunar province, Coalition forces launched a fierce attack on a small enclave in the village of Mandaghel, approximately 17 miles from the border with Pakistan, on Friday afternoon. Warplanes pounded the positions ; U.S. special forces and Afghan National Army soldiers moved in shortly afterwards.
The assault appeared to meet stiff resistance from militants at the compound. Heavy artillery and gunfire could be heard for hours, local witnesses said . A handful of civilians were reportedly wounded in the strike. Though sealed off from outside access, the area now appears to be under coalition control.
U.S. officials declined to identify who the operation was targeting, but indicated they were after a "High Value Target" (HVT) . Official sources would not rule out that al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden himself was the intended target. Afghan officials said the target could be another senior ranking al Qaeda leader.
It would be nice if bin Laden, Zawahiri, or some other high-level al-Qaeda leader were trapped here, but I've seen too many of these kinds of reports in the past to get my hopes up ahead of the facts. The article goes on to say that the area under attack is held by an Afghan drug lord named Aminullah, although it is a haven for Wahabbis, the same fascist sect of Islam that bin Laden follows. Perhaps the operation is directed at Aminullah himself. We won't know until further information comes out.
LINKS: Captain Ed advises caution, too.
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