Taliban militants penetrated the outer perimeter of Camp Integrity,a NATO base in Kabul,Afghanistan and HQ for the US Army Green Berets.The intruders detonated a bomb and engaged in a firefight with security forces,killing a decorated Green Beret,Master Sergeant Peter Andrew McKenna,35,of the 1st Battalion,7th Special Forces Group,with small arms fire.MSGT McKenna,of Bristol,Rhode Island,was a 17-year Army veteran who had served in Iraq as well,receiving a Bronze Star with V device for heroism in combat operations,as well as the Meritorious Service Medal and Army Commendation Medal.On Independence Day,he was presented with a flag that had flown over the US Capitol by Senator Jack Reed,D-Rhode Island.*
The Taliban assault was part of a wave of terrorist attacks last Friday through Monday in the Afghan capital Kabul.Two other US troops were wounded in the Camp Integrity attack.Eight Afghan contractors and four militants also died in the battle,which was within hours of an attack on the police academy in Kabul,in which 20 cadets were killed and 24 others wounded at he academy gates.
In yet another incident Friday,a truck bomb devastated an entire city block of the Kabul residential neighbourhood Shah Shaheed,killing 15 and wounding 240 more.On Monday,a vehicle-borne IED hit a crowded entrance to Kabul International Airport,killing at least 5 and wounding 16 others.Over the four-day period,almost 70 were killed and hundreds wounded by the Islamist extremists.*
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani complained that the Pakistanis failed to prevent the Taliban from congregating and planning the attacks in Quetta,Pakistan.They elected and installed their new leader there,Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour,whose predecessor,Mullah Omar,had died in a Pakistani hospital 2 years ago.
The current fighting has seen heavy clashes between the Afghan National Security Forces,supported by their NATO trainers,advisors and US counter-terrorist forces,and the Taliban.
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