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Aussies score against Taliban and al Qaeda forces in Afghanistan

The Australian:

AUSTRALIAN special forces have killed dozens of al-Qa'ida and Taliban fighters in a series of fierce firefights in northeastern Afghanistan.

Defence Minister Robert Hill confirmed that the Australians, who were deployed last month to take on a resurgent Taliban in the troubled country, inflicted heavy casualties in the first serious fighting since arriving in the strife-torn country.

Senator Hill, in Afghanistan for talks with President Hamid Karzai and other senior officials, also pledged to provide training for Afghan forces.

He said there had been two big engagements. In one, a patrol of Afghan Army and Australian fighters had come under rocket fire on Monday last week.

In a more severe attack several days later, one Australian soldier was injured and an Afghan soldier killed when they encountered fighters armed with rocket-propelled grenades and mortars.

The story is short on details, but it is interesting because the activity was in northeastern Afghanistan which suggest it is near the border with China.