http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25818571-2703,00.html
Taliban wearing burkas kill 14 Article from: The Australian KABUL: Taliban suicide bombers, most of them disguised in burkas, tried to storm government buildings and a military base in two Afghan cities yesterday, as this month's death toll for US forces rose to the highest in the war. Fourteen people died in the attacks in Gardez and Jalalabad, a day after a roadside bomb killed four American troops amid a surge in violence ahead of elections on August 20, when President Hamid Karzai will stand for re-election despite criticisms about security and corruption. Taliban militants have increasingly used co-ordinated suicide and gun attacks in their fight against Mr Karzai's Western-backed government and its foreign military allies deployed in the country for nearly eight years. Six suicide bombers, some of them also carrying guns, tried to enter several government buildings in Gardez in Paktia province but were shot dead before reaching their targets, provincial spokesman Rohullah Samoon said. "One of the bombers detonated in front of the intelligence department, killing three intelligence officers. The other bombers were killed by security forces," he said. Two policemen were also killed. The bombers entered Gardez, the provincial capital, wearing burkas -- the traditional all-covering veil worn by Afghan women. In Jalalabad, two other bombers were killed in a shootout with police as they tried to fight their way into the city airport, a base for Afghan and foreign troops. Provincial government spokesman Ahmad Zia Abdulzai and a doctor in Jalalabad's hospital said one policeman was killed in the incident. The American deaths on Monday night come two days after Private Benjamin Ranaudo was killed while on foot patrol in the Baluchi Valley, southern Afghanistan -- the 11th Australian killed in Afghanistan since 2002, and the third since the beginning of March. The US deaths brought to at least 30 the number of American service members who died in Afghanistan this month -- two more than the figure for all of June last year, which had been the deadliest month for the US since the 2001 invasion drove the Taliban from power. This month's death toll for the entire US-led coalition, which includes American, British, Canadian and other forces, stands at 55 -- well above the 46 deaths suffered in June and August of last year. US commanders had predicted a bloody summer after President Barack Obama ordered 21,000 additional US troops to Afghanistan to take on a resurgent Taliban and shift the focus on the global war against Islamic extremism from Iraq. Defence Secretary Robert Gates has warned that US-led forces must demonstrate progress in Afghanistan by the middle of next year or face a public perception that the conflict cannot be won. Heavy losses this month have triggered a public debate in Britain that the war in Afghanistan may not be worth the price. AP
