9 killed in attack on remote combat base in Afghanistan

CNN:

Nine U.S. troops were killed Sunday in an attack on a base in a remote province of eastern Afghanistan, a Western official said.

It was the deadliest attack on U.S. troops in Afghanistan in three years.

NATO confirmed that nine of its International Security Assistance Force troops were killed, but it didn't release the troops' nationalities. Fifteen other ISAF troops and four Afghan troops were wounded, NATO said.

"The fighting began in early morning hours and continued into the day as insurgents were repulsed from an Afghan National Army and ISAF combat outpost," said a NATO statement.

The statement continued, "Although no final assessment has been made, it is believed insurgents suffered heavy casualties during several hours of fighting."

Though details of the attack were sparse, an earlier statement from ISAF said Afghan and ISAF soldiers were involved in "heavy fighting" with insurgents at a command outpost in Kunar province.

"Insurgents have been firing at the [command outpost] with small arms, machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars, using homes, shops and the mosque in the village of Wanat for cover," according to the statement.

ISAF and Afghan soldiers, backed by air support, responded with small arms, machine guns, mortars and artillery, the statement said.

Since the start of coalition operations in Afghanistan, 470 U.S. troops have died. This figure includes Sunday's casualties.

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It is likely that the Taliban camouflaged themselves as villager in order to get within range of the combat base. It also sounds like they were using human shields in their attacks from prohibited areas. In other words the attack included at a minimum two war crimes by the Taliban. The enemy apparently used an attack that they believed would be large enough to overwhelm the combat base. They failed in that effort although they were able to inflict several casualties. I suspect that the Taliban took even greater casualties as artillery and air assets returned fire.

It would not surprise me to hear of acts of heroism in the defense of this base as more information comes to light.

The Guardian reports:

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The fighting was set off after a multi-pronged militant assault on a small, remote US base. Militants fired machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars from homes and a mosque in the village of Wanat, in Kunar, a mountainous region that borders Pakistan, Nato's International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) said.

The attack began at 4.30am and lasted throughout the day, claiming the lives of nine Americans and dozens of Taliban.

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A spokesman for Isaf in Kabul said last night: "We defended this base. There are still some operations on-going. The insurgents were repulsed and there is no fighting now but they might pop up again." There were "heavy casualties" among the Taliban, according to the coalition.

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This appears to have been a complex attack under cover of darkness. It raises some questions about the operation security at the base for night ops. The US has superior night fighting equipment that should have detected the enemy movement to contact. Bill Roggio has more on the fighting.

The Taliban claimed in a report in the Times that they had overrun the base. It also reports witnesses who say the position of the troops was moved to the center of the town and was still under attack.

The NY Times report on the fighting includes an interview with Gen. McKiernan whose in charge of the forces in Afghanistan.