The New York Times still gives it short shrift:
"Afghanistan: Italians Freed in Raid... Italian special forces rescued two captive Italian “military personnel,” possibly intelligence agents or special forces, from a convoy of vehicles in western Afghanistan, killing at least eight kidnappers, officials said. Both kidnapped Italians were wounded in the raid. Maj. Charles Anthony, a spokesman for the NATO force, said it was not clear if they were hit by bullets from the rescuers or the kidnappers. The Italians and their Afghan driver and Afghan interpreter had been missing since Saturday when they were last seen at a checkpoint in the Shindand district of Herat Province, the police said. The interpreter was also wounded (Associated Press)."
The Globe picks up more from the AP:
"Commandos rescue 2 Italian agents in Afghanistan; At least nine captors killed in daring ambush" by Alisa Tang, Associated Press | September 25, 2007
KABUL, Afghanistan - Italian commandos, aided by other NATO forces and aircraft, rescued two kidnapped Italian intelligence operatives yesterday in a daring ambush and gun battle that left at least nine of the captors dead in western Afghanistan.
Although both freed Italians were wounded - one of them seriously - Prime Minister Romano Prodi of Italy said the operation was a success and could put a dent in Afghanistan's rising kidnapping industry.
Violence elsewhere in Afghanistan killed at least 31 people. Among the dead were two NATO soldiers serving with Spain's contingent and an Iranian serving as their interpreter - all killed in a land mine explosion, the Spanish defense minister said. Three were seriously wounded.
The two Italians, who were described by Defense Minister Arturo Parisi in Rome as working for the Sismi intelligence service, disappeared along with their two Afghan colleagues Saturday. They were last seen at a police checkpoint in western Herat province.
[SPIES!!!]
Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema of Italy said the fact that the two were intelligence agents posed an "imminent danger," which required the rescue.
Parisi told parliament that Italian forces were aided in the rescue by British, German, and US forces, which were monitoring the movements of the kidnappers with a Predator drone aircraft and helicopters.
[Look at all this equipment and gear that was deployed to get ONE of THEIR OWN!
So why can't they find other guys?
Is it because HE is DEAD?]
NATO "very quickly" began receiving intelligence reports on the Italians' location, enabling forces to launch the rescue mission, added French Brigadier General Vincent Lafontaine, chief of planning for the 40,000 alliance troops in Afghanistan.
[Gee, look how quickly they went into action.
But the Christian Koreans were used for a month while the situation fell apart, and the Taliban took more ground.]
Lafontaine: "There is a sort of window of opportunity if you achieve reliable intelligence. It's a success story because it was very quickly solved."
[A success story? NINE PEOPLE WERE KILLED!!!!
People who NEVER DID ANYTHING TO US!!!!
So, WHY are WE THERE?]
The decision to launch the operation was made after coalition forces determined the kidnappers had started heading south from Farah yesterday morning in two cars, Parisi said.
Italian special forces ambushed the convoy in neighboring Farah Province, sparking a gun battle that killed at least nine of the kidnappers.
One of the Italians was seriously wounded, and doctors were evaluating whether to operate, Parisi said. The other had broken his shoulder and left collarbone, but his injuries were not considered life-threatening.
Both had been beaten by their captors, said Afghan Gen. Jalandar Shah.
Major Charles Anthony, a spokesman for the NATO force here, said it was not clear if the two Italians were wounded by gunfire from their rescuers or their kidnappers.
The Italians' Afghan translator was also wounded, and another Afghan, apparently their driver, was killed, Parisi said. Anthony hinted the driver might have helped in the kidnappings.
Prodi said in New York, where he is attending the UN General Assembly:
"[The rescue operation] was a heavy defeat for the kidnappers and therefore a warning for the future. We did not have one moment of hesitation in giving the mandate to those who were in the field to act with the utmost determination."
Lafontaine said the operation sends a message to potential hostage takers.
A Taliban spokesman said its militants were not responsible.
[That the same "Taliban" that the New York Times described as:
"Something of a catchall term for loosely affiliated insurgents without a singular command structure. Often, the Afghan government favors the phrase 'enemies of the state' (New York Times July 24, 2007)?"
Just askin'!]
Here's more from the Web:
International Herald Tribune (international arm of the N.Y. Times. Hmm):
"NATO soldier, 6 militants killed in latest violence in southern Afghanistan" by the Associated Press Tuesday, September 25, 2007
KABUL, Afghanistan: Afghan and U.S.-led coalition forces killed six militants allegedly involved in attacks against the troops, while a NATO soldier in the south was killed as authorities moved to quell a recent spike in insurgency-related violence, officials said Tuesday.
The NATO soldier was killed and four others were wounded while on patrol Monday in southern Afghanistan, the alliance said in a statement. It did not give the soldier's nationality or the exact location of the incident.
In Kandahar province, a joint Afghan and coalition operation Monday in Zhari district targeted militants suspected of planting roadside bombs and launching rocket attacks against NATO and Afghan forces, leaving six suspected insurgents dead, the Defense Ministry said in a statement.
In central Wardak province, insurgents attacked Afghan army troops, killing a soldier and wounding five others, the ministry said.
A surge in insurgency-related violence has left more than 4,400 people dead, most of them militants, according to an Associated Press tally of figures from Afghan and Western officials.
In northern Takhar province, police arrested a bomb maker and five other men with suspected links to the Taliban and al-Qaida after the bomb maker wounded himself as he was planting explosives near the home of a border police commander, said deputy provincial police chief Ziauddin Mamudi.
Police arrested the bomb maker as he tried to escape and seized timers and explosives from his home and arrested five other suspects.
In the eastern city of Jalalabad, Nangarhar province police and the intelligence service discovered a car full of explosive powder on Monday, and detonated it in a controlled explosion."
[Lot going on, but no Muslim deaths in the fighting? They attacking, we losin'?]
Another source:
"Police commander among 32 killed in Afghanistan"
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) — At least 32 people including a police commander and several Taliban militants were killed in a wave of violence across insurgency-plagued Afghanistan, officials said Tuesday.
Much of the bloodshed was blamed on the Taliban movement, which was toppled in a US-led invasion in late 2001 following the 9/11 attacks on the United States.
[Stating non-contextual facts and upholding the Cultural Creation of Zeliokow's Myths!]
A district police chief, his brother and two other colleagues were killed late Monday in a roadside bomb blast in the northern province of Baghlan, provincial head of police Abdul Rahman Sayedkhili told AFP.
He could not say who was behind the blast, which happened near the home of the targeted policeman, named as Abdul Adil.
In a separate incident on Monday, a local guard from the US-owned security company USPI was killed after Taliban insurgents attacked a civilian convoy in the western province of Farah, police said.
Twenty Taliban fighters were also killed in a lengthy gunbattle after the ambush, Farah police chief Abdul Rahman Sarjang said. The militant death toll could not be independently confirmed.
A roadside blast in the same province on Monday claimed the lives of two Spanish soldiers and an Iranian interpreter. Six Spanish soldiers were also wounded in the attack on their convoy.
Six other Taliban fighters were killed Monday in the southern province of Kandahar, the former stronghold of Taliban leaders and now one of the hotbeds for their insurgency, the defence ministry said in a statement.
Several other rebels were killed and injured in neighboring Helmand, the statement added without giving a figure.
Also Monday, an Afghan army soldier was killed and five others were injured in central Wardak, the defence ministry also said, where hundreds of Afghan and foreign soldiers have been conducting operations in recent weeks.
"The soldiers were on security duty when (they were) attacked by enemy heavy fire," the ministry statement said.
On the same day, a suicide bomber blew himself up in southern Helmand province but only wounded two civilians, the interior ministry said in a statement.
The ministry said two Afghan civil servants were also kidnapped in Helmand on Monday but had no other details.
The abductions came the same day as elite NATO-led commandos freed two Italian soldiers who were kidnapped in western Afghanistan at the weekend. Nine kidnappers were also killed, NATO said.
The extremist Taliban have stepped up attacks in the past two years with their attacks claiming more than 5,000 lives this year alone. Most casualties though have been Taliban themselves."
[The number is RISING RAPIDLY, too!!
That's about 800 or so in JUST the LAST TWO WEEKS!!!
Why are we KILLING these people, and please don't say 9/11!!]
