Khost, ISAF?
This report this morning says that a base near Khost, Afghanistan was attacked by suicide bombers. There are two bases (or at least there were when I left) near Khost, but they were both US bases.The good news is the suicide bombers got their wish and there were no ISAF casualities. Unfortunately there were civilian casualities and that is very sad. Their families have my sympathy.
If this was FOB Salerno, then given that the attackers were engaged 1000 yards from the base with small arms indicates to me that the Afghans actually did the direct fighting until the helicopters got there. There is a defensive ring manned by Afghans about 400 yards beyond the actual base wire (I'm not giving any secrets away here, the towers are plainly visable).
This report also says that the base was attacked recently by a car bomb or VBIED (vehicle borne improvized explosive device (at least I assume it was improvized)) and that that attack was repelled at the gate. I wonder if the new gate, to the east, closer to the road intersection was ever built.
I appologize that there are more questions than answers in this post.
Labels: Afghanistan
posted by Inner Prop at 6:16 AM
3 Comments:
The Thunder Run has linked to this post in the blog post From the Front: 08/19/2008 News and Personal dispatches from the front and the home front.
It WAS Salerno! Yesterday somebody turned to me and said "do you know of a Salerno in Afghanistan?" Yeah, I sure do...
I was going to e-mail you about this, but I see you already know. Maybe the KPF got 'em.
That was my thinking. The guys inside the wire probably got a good show and the KPF (Khost Provencial Force) did all the work.
We had an attack like that while I was there. Four guys rushed a gate with hand grenades just before a convoy was about to leave.
They threw like girls (no offense meant, I don't mean like women, more like little girls) and didn't even clear the gate. Our convoy just sat and watched the KPF rooot out these knuckle heads from the houses they had hid in.
The 1/501 PIR told me that a few months before we got there there was a direct attack on the gate with small arms. The XO said, "As soon as the bullets started flying the [KPF] started running."
I was surprised because many of these guys were ones who fought off the Soviet horde and I mentioned this.
He said, "Oh, I meant they started running forward, toward the shooting. Their not very good shots and they wanted to make sure they hit something."
And just think, they were DEFENDING US!
If he's still there, WAY TO GO COMMANDER SHAFIQ!
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