Some 4,000 US Marines moved into villages in Taliban strongholds in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province July 3—a remote area that is at the center of the country's opium [2] cultivation, which helps finance the insurgency. One Marine has been killed and several others injured in the operation. A roadside bomb in Helmand also killed the UK's Lt. Col. Rupert Thorneloe, the most senior British officer to have died in combat in Afghanistan. A Canadian soldier was killed in Kandahar when his vehicle struck an improvised explosive device. And in Paktia province, a roadside bomb killed three Afghans and a foreigner working on a road construction project. (Daily Times [3], Pakistan, July 4)
A US soldier was also apparently taken captive by Taliban forces in Paktika on June 3. He is believed to be held by forces loyal to Sirajuddin Haqqani [4]. Late last year, the Haqqani network kidnapped a reporter for the New York Times and brought him to North Waziristan in Pakistan. The reporter escaped from the compound last month. (Long War Journal [5], July 2)
See our last post on Afghanistan [6].
