Tanzanian troops arrive in eastern Congo

GOMA, Congo (AP) — A contingent of about 100 Tanzanian troops arrived in eastern Congo Saturday, a first step in assembling the new United Nations intervention brigade, said a U.N. spokesman.

The Tanzanian troops are the first batch to form the U.N. intervention brigade to be deployed in eastern Congo following a Security Council resolution in March, said peacekeeping mission spokesman Lt. Col. Felix Basse.

On March 28th, the U.N. Security Council voted a resolution that renewed the mandate of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo for one year, and created a special intervention brigade that has an aggressive mandate that allows it to fight armed groups, rather than merely defend civilians.

The intervention brigade commander arrived in Goma on the 23rd April, but troops meant to arrive by the end of April have only just started arriving in eastern Congo. The rest of the troops will arrive in stages, but no clear deadline has been given so far.

Malawi and South Africa have pledged to contribute troops to the U.N. force.

The need for an intervention force became clear in November, when the U.N. peacekeepers merely stood by as Congo's M23 rebels took the provincial capital of Goma. The rebels eventually withdrew from the city two weeks later, but the fall of Goma convinced the international community to create a brigade with a more assertive mandate to try to put an end to the turmoil in which has plagued eastern Congo for years.

But with just over 3,000 special troops to battle more than 25 armed groups in the Kivu region alone, the new U.N. brigade risks being spread too thin, say military experts. Already eastern Congo's M23 rebels are training fighters in guerrilla tactics to fight the U.N. troops.

The Congolese army, with poor discipline and lacking resources, has been unable to contain the rebels maintain order in the east. Congo's authorities have put a lot of hope that the new U.N. brigade will help solve the security crisis in the east.

"With the first Tanzanian troops landing, a new dynamic will emerge in the east. Security problems cannot be solved in one day," said Congo's prime minister, Augustin Matata Ponyo, to the Associated Press from his office in Kinshasa, Congo's capital. "The most important thing is that the government is aware of this problem and is working to solve it."

___

Associated Press writer Saleh Mwanamilongo contributed to this report from Kinshasa, Congo.

View the original article here

UN: Girls as young as 6 raped by Congo troops

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Congolese troops fleeing the M23 rebels last November raped at least 97 women and 33 girls, some as young as 6, a U.N. report released Wednesday said.

The U.S. Africa Command trained one of the units involved, Commando Battalion 391, in 2010 to be "a model for future reforms within the Congolese armed forces," according to the AFRICOM web site.

The U.N. report covered "mass rape, killings, and arbitrary executions and violations resulting from widespread looting," U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky told reporters.

A report by the U.N. Joint Human Rights Office says most of the rapes took place over Nov. 22-23 in the eastern Congo town of Minova.

The report says that "One or two of the soldiers would leave with the looted goods and at least one would stand guard as the remaining (Congolese) soldiers raped women and girls in the house. Victims were threatened with death if they shouted; some were raped at gunpoint. Most victims were raped by more than one soldier."

"The victims included 33 girls aged between 6 and 17," Nesirky said.

During their occupation of Goma and Sake, "M23 combatants perpetrated serious violations of human law and gross human rights violations," Nesirky said, including at least 59 cases of sexual violence.

The mass rapes occurred in November, 2012, after the Congolese army was defeated by the M23 rebels who seized the provincial capital of Goma, in eastern Congo. The national army retreated in disorder.

Commanders lost control of their troops, or were unwilling to impose discipline over their men who regrouped some 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of Goma, in Minova.

A small, dusty town on the shore of lake Kivu, Minova is home to several thousand people. For days, the Congolese army raped, killed and looted in anger and disarray after their defeat, before discipline could be re-established by army commanders.

The report says 11 Congolese soldiers have been arrested by the Congolese military prosecutor's office, "including two for murder, but only two for related cases of rape." The other charges were not specified.

The commanding officers and deputy commanding officers of the two main battalions suspected of committing these acts, as well as officers of eight other units, have been suspended, the U.N. said.

The report specifies the Congolese units involved in the Minova attacks as the 41 and 391 battalions. The 391 battalion was trained by the U.S. Africa Command in 2010.

Military magistrates from both North Kivu and South Kivu, U.N. peacekeeping and humanitarian agency staff travelled to Minova and surrounding villages from Feb. 6-13, and "military investigators took testimony from several hundred victims, including a large number of victims of sexual violence," the report said.

Roger Meece, head of the U.N. mission in Congo, said the investigation "should be pursed in an independent and credible manner."

"Those responsible for such crimes must know that they will be prosecuted," U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said in a statement, calling the sexual violence outlined in the report "horrifying" in scale and systematic nature.

___

On the Web:

The U.N. report on Congo rapes: http://monusco.unmissions.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=Pj7jOWjAxWo%3d&tabid=10662&language=en-US

AFRICOM's web announcement of the training of Battalion 391: http://www.africom.mil/Newsroom/Article/7727/750-congolese-soldiers-graduate-from-us-led-milita

View the original article here

Students, troops clash in Venezuela over election

Apr 15 (Reuters) - Leading money winners on the 2013 PGATour on Monday (U.S. unless stated): 1. Tiger Woods $4,139,600 2. Brandt Snedeker $3,137,920 3. Matt Kuchar $2,442,389 4. Adam Scott (Australia) $2,100,469 5. Steve Stricker $1,935,340 6. Phil Mickelson $1,764,680 7. Dustin Johnson $1,748,907 8. Jason Day $1,659,565 9. Hunter Mahan $1,553,965 10. Keegan Bradley $1,430,347 11. Charles Howell III $1,393,806 12. John Merrick $1,375,757 13. Russell Henley $1,331,434 14. Michael Thompson $1,310,709 15. Kevin Streelman $1,310,343 16. Bill Haas $1,271,553 17. Billy Horschel $1,254,224 18. ...

View the original article here

EU mission trains troops in Mali

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — In preparation for a drawdown of French troops from Mali, a European Union team started training Malian soldiers for battle against jihadists who overran much of this West African country before they were pushed back by a French military intervention.

On a recent day, small groups of Malians stood in the burning heat and orange sands in the town of Koulikoro, 60 kilometers (37 miles) west of the capital Bamako, learning to hold weapons. They began the training last week, and this week they learned how to shoot from standing, sitting and prone positions.

About 550 people form the team meant to ready Mali's army for combat. But there is worry that the project to train thousands of soldiers may not be sufficient to keep the armed Islamic militants at bay.

French forces entered Mali swiftly and strongly in January after Islamic militants began a formidable push south toward the country's capital. The militants, who are inspired by a radical interpretation of Islam, ruled the northern half of Mali for nearly 10 months before the French-led military operation forced them into the desert surrounding the main cities. The extremists have responded with a series of attacks, including suicide bombings.

French military spokesman Col. Thierry Burkhard said this week that about 100 French troops have been pulled out of Mali and were as of this week in Cyprus on their way back to France. Last month, French President Francois Hollande said that by July, about 2,000 French soldiers will still be in the former French colony, down from 4,000 at the peak deployment, and at the end of the year "1,000 French soldiers will remain." He said the French troops would likely be part of a U.N. peacekeeping operation that France is pushing for.

The French-led operation with backing from regional bloc ECOWAS and under authorization of the U.N. Security Council has largely been hailed a success so far, though there are some concerns the militants will simply regroup once the French start drawing down.

Mali's military chain of command was broken after a coup last year. Soldiers lack respect for their commanders and superiors. There are reports that soldiers, humiliated by their defeat last year at the hands of the Islamic extremists, have carried out reprisals against the Arab and Tuareg civilians left behind.

Human Rights Watch released a report Thursday that said two Tuareg men who had been arrested in February and tortured by Malian soldiers in the Timbuktu region have died in detention in Bamako.

The army had detained seven Tuareg men between the ages of 21 and 66 in February on suspicion they supported Islamic militant groups, the rights group said. The seven told a researcher they had been "severely beaten and kicked, burned, injected with a caustic substance, and threatened with death while in custody," the report said.

Col. Christophe Paczka, a French commander of the training center in Koulikoro, said weapons and equipment were brought and assembled for the training of the Malian troops.

"This army is getting back on its feet and needs weapons," Paczka said.

This week, the Malian trainees gathered in fatigues in front of chalkboards where European instructors showed them the basics of their weapons. The soldiers also laid on their bellies side by side, learning to aim from the ground.

Eventually 2,800 soldiers will be trained, said Col. Laurent Viellefosse, a trainer for the program.

The Malian soldiers seem motivated about the training as they split into smaller groups with instructors from England, Finland, Sweden and France.

"We have had easy exercises, some others more difficult, but nothing that's insurmountable," said Malian soldier Soumaila Fomba. "I'm most interested in leadership and commanding on the field, and shooting."

The EU has given 12.3 million euros for the training center, hospital and operating costs, said Col. Phillipe de Cussac.

However, even with the training, a U.S. official warned stronger forces are needed.

"In Mali right now, the French have pushed the AQIM out of the major cities in North Mali, and we're working to create a U.N. operation to follow that so the French can focus on the high-value targets and eventually turn over that security to the host country," Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations, Michael Sheehan, said Tuesday at a hearing, according to a transcript of the hearing.

He said the West African or ECOWAS force that is in Mali right now "is not capable at all."

French troops are currently backed by soldiers from other West African countries including Chad. Sheehan suggested a U.N. force be supported for the mission, but said eventually a stronger force was needed to chase the al-Qaida-linked militants out of the mountains.

"That is going to be a job for a much more capable force," he said.

___

Associated Press reporter Carley Petesch in Johannesburg contributed to this report.

View the original article here

Afghanistan helicopter crash kills 2 US troops

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A NATO helicopter crashed in a field in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, killing two American service members.

The U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force said the cause of the crash is under investigation but initial reporting indicates there was no enemy activity in the area at the time.

It did not immediately identify the nationalities of those killed. But a senior U.S. official confirmed they were Americans. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to release the information ahead of a formal announcement.

The deaths raised to nine the number of Americans, including three civilians, killed in Afghanistan so far this month.

A local official, Mir Baz Khan, said the helicopter crashed in an agricultural field in the Pachir Wagam district in Nangarhar province.

Shir Azam, a teacher who lives in a village near the site, said he heard a loud explosion, then saw the helicopter in flames as it plunged to the ground.

Then, he said, more helicopters came and American troops sealed off the site. He also said he heard nothing to indicate any shooting before the crash.

Americans and other foreign troops rely heavily on helicopters and other aircraft for transportation and to avoid roadside bombs and other dangers on the ground in the mountainous country.

The deaths raised to at least 25 the number of American troops killed this year, according to an Associated Press tally.

With three weeks to go, April has already proven to be the deadliest month this year for Afghans and foreigners serving in the country, an ominous sign as the annual fighting season gets underway with improved weather. Fighting usually abates during the country's harsh winter season.

A roadside bomb also killed three civilians and wounded three others as they were driving in Nawa district of Helmand province in southern Afghanistan, according to provincial government spokesman Mohammad Omer Zawak.

At least 107 people have been killed — 62 Afghan civilians, 36 Afghan security forces, six U.S. service members and three American civilians, including Anne Smedinghoff, the first American diplomat to die on the job since last year's attack in Benghazi, Libya.

The violence comes as U.S. and other foreign combat troops increasingly hand over security responsibilities to Afghan forces as they prepare to withdraw by the end of 2014.

The British Ministry of Defense said Tuesday that the last commando group of Royal Marines to serve in Afghanistan was returning home after more than a decade in the country.

___

Associated Press writers Amir Shah in Kabul and Mirwais Khan in Kandahar contributed to this report.

View the original article here

5 UN troops, 7 others killed in South Sudan

JUBA, South Sudan (AP) — Armed rebels that South Sudan believes are backed by Sudan opened fire on a U.N. convoy on Tuesday, killing five U.N. peacekeepers from India and at least seven civilians, officials said.

South Sudan's military spokesman, Col. Philip Aguer, blamed the attack on fighters led by David Yau Yau, a rebel leader South Sudan's military has battled for months.

The top U.N. envoy in South Sudan, Hilde Johnson, said in a statement that five peacekeepers and seven civilians working with the U.N. mission were killed. She said at least nine additional peacekeepers and civilians were injured and some remain unaccounted for.

Aguer said the attack took place on a convoy traveling between the South Sudanese towns of Pibor and Bor on Tuesday morning.

"Definitely this attack was carried out by David Yau Yau's militia," Aguer said. "They have been launching ambushes even on the SPLA for about six months now," he said, using the acronym for South Sudan's military.

South Sudan ended decades of civil war with Sudan in 2005 and peacefully formed its own country in 2011. But the south is still plagued by internal violence and shaky relations with Sudan. Leaders in Khartoum, Sudan's capital, deny that they are arming Yau Yau.

Syed Akbaruddin, spokesman of India's Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi, India, said the convoy, which included 32 Indian soldiers, was attacked by rebels in Gurmukh in the volatile state of Jonglei. He said the casualties are being brought to the capital of South Sudan, Juba, and the injured will be sent to the U.N. mission hospital. The Indian embassy will work with the U.N. to bring the bodies back to India, he said.

India has about 2,200 Indian army personnel in South Sudan. They are in two battalions. One is based in Jonglei and the other is in Malakal, in the Upper Nile, on the border with Sudan.

The Indian embassy said it will inform families before releasing the names of the soldiers killed.

The top U.N. envoy in South Sudan, Johnson, sent condolences to the families of the dead and injured.

___

George reported from New Delhi. Associated Press reporter Edith Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.

View the original article here

South African military to withdraw troops in CAR

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africa's military said Thursday it will withdraw its troops from Central African Republic, where 13 South African soldiers died in a battle with rebels in March.

Brig. Gen. Xolani Mabanga, a military spokesman, said the troops will pull out in line with a decision by South Africa's political leadership. He declined to say how many South African soldiers remained in Central African Republic and did not give a departure date.

South Africa's military union said earlier this week that most of the 200 South African troops who were there have already been withdrawn.

Meanwhile, a South African parliamentary committee on Thursday debated the military mission in Central African Republic amid questions about its role and the constitutional legality of the deployment.

Defense Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula acknowledged in remarks to the committee that South African troops were not prepared to deal with an attack, the South African Press Association reported.

"We were not equipped in a way that would be able to repel that kind of battle," she said.

Last month, about 200 South African soldiers fought a much larger group of rebels as they swept into the capital of Bangui and overthrew the president, Francois Bozize.

South African officials have said soldiers were sent to help train the army of Central African Republic as part of a bilateral defense agreement signed in 2007, and that additional troops were sent when the security situation deteriorated at the end of last year.

The government has denied allegations that troops were sent to protect the business interests of a company allied to South Africa's governing party, the African National Congress.

View the original article here

Australia to withdraw most troops from Afghanistan by year-end

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia will withdraw most troops from Afghanistan's south at the end of this year and shut down a major base for NATO-led forces, handing security to Afghan soldiers and police, Defense Minister Stephen Smith said on Tuesday.

Western and Afghan commanders, Smith said, had agreed that the major multinational coalition base at Tarin Kowt and its NATO airbase in Uruzgan province would close at the end of 2013.

Most foreign combat troops are due to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014 under a planned security transition from foreign forces to Afghans.

"It is a necessary and logical and natural consequence of transition being effective," Smith said.

"The effect of that closure will be that Australia will no longer have a permanent presence in Uruzgan province, and the majority of Australian defense force personnel will return."

Australia has around 1,650 troops in Afghanistan, including special forces, based mainly in volatile Uruzgan, and was an original member of the U.S.-led coalition that helped oust the former Taliban government in late 2001.

It has lost 39 troops in the war, with 242 wounded.

The United States and NATO allies are racing against the clock to train a 350,000-strong force of Afghan soldiers to meet the 2014 deadline, although there is widespread skepticism that target can be met.

"A lot of people are worried about the military side and how are we going to get to 2014," Washington-based Australian counter-insurgency expert David Kilcullen told Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) television.

"How are we going to hand over to the Afghans effectively and prevent the Taliban coming back?" he said on the ABC's "Four Corners" program late on Monday.

Australia had not yet decided whether special forces troops would remain in Afghanistan next year or after 2014, Smith said, with negotiations still underway with the Afghan government.

(Reporting by Rob Taylor; Editing by Paul Tait)

View the original article here

US warns Afghan leader's comments threaten troops

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan warned his troops to be ready for increased violence because of a series of anti-American statements by Afghan President Hamid Karzai, NATO said Thursday.

In an email to battlefield commanders, Gen. Joseph Dunford, said the remarks could spur more insider attacks, days after gunmen in Afghan uniforms killed two U.S. special forces troops and a U.S. contractor in two separate shootings.

"We're at a rough point in the relationship," Dunford said in the email, according to a senior U.S. official, speaking anonymously to discuss the confidential communication.

Karzai's office released a new statement Thursday explaining the president's earlier remarks, after news of Dunford's email broke.

"My recent comments were meant to help reform, not destroy the relationship," the statement quotes Karzai telling an audience gathered for a televised talk show filmed at the Presidential Palace Thursday. "We want good relations and friendship with America, but the relationship must be between two independent nations."

That explanation may do little to soothe U.S. officials' unease. Over the weekend, the Afghan leader accused the U.S. of colluding with the Taliban on suicide attacks to keep the country unstable and give foreign forces an excuse to stay beyond their 2014 mandate. His remarks followed two suicide attacks that killed at least 19 Afghans on Saturday, coinciding with the first official visit by U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.

Karzai also cautioned that the delay in handing over a U.S.-run detention center to Afghan control "could harm bilateral relations." His remarks came after he and Dunford met Wednesday to discuss the issue but failed to resolve the impasse.

The prison transfer, originally slated for 2009, has been repeatedly delayed because of disputes between the U.S. and Afghan governments about whether all detainees should have the right to a trial and who will have the ultimate authority over the release of prisoners the U.S. considers a threat.

The Afghan government has maintained that it needs full control over which prisoners are released as a matter of national sovereignty. The issue has threatened to undermine ongoing negotiations for a security agreement that would govern the presence of U.S. forces in Afghanistan after the current combat mission ends in 2014.

Dunford and other top U.S. officials have rejected Karzai's allegations of collusion with the Taliban.

Dunford's warning to his troops, first reported by The New York Times, showed the deep U.S. concern that Karzai's words could go beyond angry rhetoric and spark violence targeting U.S. forces, a threat that could harm the larger relationship.

NATO also released a statement explaining the missive, saying it "routinely conducts assessments and adapts its protection posture to ensure our forces are prepared to meet potential threats." The statement calls Dunford's email "prudent given increased coalition causalities in recent days."

Dunford also said unusually warm weather could mean an early start to the Taliban fighting season because militants can return from now-open high mountain passes from Pakistan.

On the detention center issue, NATO released a statement Wednesday saying both parties pledged to continue constructive dialogue to resolve the remaining issues. The facility has an Afghan administrator but is still U.S.-run.

View the original article here

5 US troops die in helicopter crash in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A helicopter crash in southern Afghanistan has killed five American service members, officials said Tuesday.

Monday night's crash brought the total number of U.S. troops killed that day to seven, making it the deadliest day for U.S. forces so far this year. Two U.S. special operations forces were gunned down hours earlier in an insider attack by an Afghan policeman in eastern Afghanistan.

The NATO military coalition said in a statement that initial reports showed no enemy activity in the area at the time. The cause of the crash is under investigation, the statement said.

A U.S. official said all five of the dead were American. The official said the helicopter went down outside Kandahar city. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the information had not been formally released.

All five people aboard the UH-60 Black Hawk were killed, said Maj. Adam Wojack, a spokesman for the international military coalition.

At the same time as the crash was being reported, Afghan President Hamid Karzai was berating the Taliban for giving the U.S. a reason to stay longer in the country, by staging the deadly weekend attacks that killed at least 19 Afghans, including eight children.

"Do you think you really show America you are strong? No. This is not showing power, this just serves the Americans," Karzai was quoted in the statement released by his press office Tuesday. The Taliban claimed responsibility only for targeting the Defense Ministry in Kabul, not the second attack in the south where the children were killed, but Karzai blamed them for both.

"What the president means is that the attacks, by creating continued instability, give the international community a reason to keep foreign troops here," said presidential spokesman Aimal Faizi, reached late Tuesday.

This was a softening from Karzai's comments Sunday, when he accused the U.S. and the Taliban of cooperating to stage Saturday's deadly suicide attacks to scare Afghans into allowing foreign troops to stay in the country.

Top U.S. commander in Afghanistan Gen. Joseph Dunford rejected his charges of U.S. collusion with the Taliban as "categorically false," and U.S. ambassador James Cunningham said Monday, "It is inconceivable that we would spend the lives of America's sons, daughters...in helping Afghans to secure and rebuild your country, and at the same time be engaged in endangering Afghanistan or its citizens."

The troops killed in Monday's helicopter crash make 12 U.S. troops killed so far this year in Afghanistan. There were 297 U.S. service members killed in Afghanistan in 2012, according to an Associated Press tally.

It was the deadliest crash since August, when a U.S. military helicopter went down during a firefight with insurgents in a remote area of Kandahar. Seven Americans and four Afghans died in that crash.

In March 2012, a helicopter crashed near the Afghan capital, Kabul, killing 12 Turkish soldiers on board and four Afghan civilians on the ground, officials said. And in August 2011, insurgents shot down a Chinook helicopter, killing 30 American troops, mostly elite Navy SEALs, in Wardak province in central Afghanistan.

Also Tuesday, a statement from the Interior Ministry said insurgent attacks killed six Afghan civilians.

Four died when the tractor they were on struck a roadside bomb in the southern province of Helmand on Monday. Then on Tuesday, two women were killed when a mortar fired by insurgents hit their house in the same province.

More details emerged Tuesday about the insider attack in Wardak the day before. Afghan officials also raised the number of Afghans security forces killed in the attack to four, from two reported previously.

According to a spokesman for the Wardak governor, Afghan and U.S. forces had just finished a meeting in the district police headquarters and were heading to their vehicles in the compound's courtyard when the attack took place. As they came out of the building, a policeman jumped onto the back of a parked police truck, grabbed the mounted heavy machine gun, turned it toward the group and opened fire, said spokesman Attaullah Khogyani.

The Afghan Defense Ministry said two soldiers were killed, in addition to the two police officers Khogyani had reported killed on the day of the attack. The attacker was also killed.

U.S. officials said Monday that in addition to the two special forces soldiers killed, 10 American soldiers — both special operators and regular military — were wounded in the attack. Three of their Afghan translators were also wounded, according to Khogyani.

___

Associated Press writer Heidi Vogt contributed.

Dozier can be followed on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/KimberlyDozier and Vogt at http://twitter.com/HeidiVogt .

View the original article here

Insider attack kills 2 US troops, 2 Afghans

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A police officer opened fire on U.S. and Afghan forces at a police headquarters in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, sparking a firefight that killed two U.S. troops and two other Afghan policemen. The attacker was also killed in the shootout, officials said.

In a second incident, outside Kabul, U.S. troops fired on a truck approaching their military convoy, killing two Afghan men inside.

The shooting in the eastern Wardak province was the latest in a series of insider attacks against coalition and Afghan forces that have threatened to undermine their alliance at a time when cooperation would aid the planned handover of security responsibility to local forces next year.

The attack also comes a day after the expiration of the Afghan president's deadline for U.S. special forces to withdraw from the province.

U.S. officials have said that they are working with Afghan counterparts to answer President Hamid Karzai's concerns and maintain security in Wardak. Most of the U.S. troops in Wardak are special operations forces.

In Monday's attack, an Afghan police officer stood up in the back of a police pickup truck, grabbed a machine gun and started firing at the U.S. special operations forces and Afghan policemen in the police compound in Jalrez district, said the province's Deputy Police Chief Abdul Razaq Koraishi.

The assailant killed two Afghan policemen and wounded four, including the district police chief, before he was gunned down, Koraishi said.

The U.S. military said in a statement that two American service members were killed in the shooting. A U.S. defense official in Washington said early reports indicate that 10 Americans and at least 12 Afghans were wounded in the attack, in addition to those killed. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss details of the attack with reporters.

U.S. forces were holding five Afghan police officers for questioning, Koraishi said.

Karzai ordered U.S. special operations forces to leave Wardak province, just outside the Afghan capital, because of allegations that Afghans working with the U.S. commandos were involved in abusive behavior. Karzai gave them two weeks to leave, and the deadline expired Sunday.

On Sunday, Karzai accused U.S. forces of working with the Taliban to stage two suicide bombings over the weekend during the visit of U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel. In a speech, Karzai said the Americans want to scare Afghans into allowing them to stay.

That brought a sharp rebuke from the U.S. ambassador Monday, as news of the insider attack in Wardak emerged.

"The thought that we would collude with the Taliban flies in the face of everything we have done here and is absolutely without foundation," Ambassador James Cunningham said in a statement. "It is inconceivable that we would spend the lives of America's sons, daughters, and our treasure, in helping Afghans to secure and rebuild their country, and at the same time be engaged in endangering Afghanistan or its citizens."

The Wardak shooting is the third insider attack this year.

Afghan soldiers opened fire on U.S. forces at a joint base in eastern Afghanistan last Friday, killing one U.S. contractor and injuring four U.S. troops. A U.S. military official confirmed Monday that the attackers were Afghan soldiers. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the NATO investigation was not complete.

The pace of incidents is much slower than in 2012, when coalition troops were hit with 46 insider attacks that killed 64 coalition troops and wounded 95, according to a senior coalition intelligence officer. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to be publicly identified. By AP's count, at this time last year, there had been eight attacks. In 2011, 21 insider attacks killed 35.

U.S. officials attribute the drop in incidents to measures like better vetting of Afghan security forces, and devoting more resources to counterintelligence — watching the ranks for discontent. They have also taken steps like dividing U.S. and Afghan forces when stationed on the same bases, and when located together, posting sentries to watch their own sleeping troops.

U.S. forces are also conducting far fewer joint patrols with Afghan troops ahead of the 2014 transition, so there are fewer opportunities for the two to interact.

In the convoy shooting, U.S. forces spokesman Jamie Graybeal said the Afghan driver failed to heed instructions to stop as his truck came close to the American convoy near Kabul.

"The convoy took appropriate measures to protect themselves and engaged the vehicle, killing two individuals and injuring one," Graybeal said in an email. He said an assessment is underway.

Associated Press video shows a U.S. major cursing at one of his soldiers and slapping him over the head with his cap as Afghans pulled dead bodies from the truck. In the video, the major appears to be upbraiding the soldier for not using a laser warning device to signal the approaching truck.

The two dead men were employees of a company that repairs police vehicles, said Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqi. Another man was wounded in the shooting, said Col. Mohammad Alim, the police commander overseeing Kabul highways.

____

AP Intelligence Writer Kimberly Dozier contributed. AP National Security Writer Bob Burns contributed from Washington.

____

Follow Vogt on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HeidiVogt and Dozier at http://twitter.com/KimberlyDozier

View the original article here

Congo troops give key towns back to M23 rebels

GOMA, Congo (AP) — Congolese government troops gave control of two key eastern towns back to the M23 rebel group to avoid jeopardizing the ongoing peace process, a spokesman for the military said Sunday.

Kiwanja and Rutshuru had been M23 strongholds since the group had taken control of them in July 2012. But following a split within the rebellion last week, the armed group had left the towns to reinforce positions against the new splinter, and another rebel group moved in. The military then secured the towns on Friday.

"We couldn't leave the population alone, and we had to secure the area to make sure there were no crimes committed," said Col. Olivier Hamuli, the military spokesman. He said they've since given control back to M23.

"Our troops left Rutshuru and Kiwanja to avoid taking a step back regarding the evolution of the negotiations in Kampala," he said, adding that they are now only one kilometer (mile) from Kiwanja.

Government forces cannot take back M23 territory as negotiations as mediations are ongoing, according to an agreement reached in November at the International Conference for the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) in Uganda.

"The M23 signed an agreement with the ICGLR and the Congolese government after we took Goma in November. The government troops had to leave our territory because Rutshuru and Kiwanja are in our territory,"said Col. Vianney Kazarama, the spokesman for one of the M23 factions led by Gen. Sultani Makenga.

M23 is a rebellion allegedly backed by Rwanda and Uganda. In November, after eight months of sporadic fighting against the national army, the rebels took the strategic city of Goma, but withdrew two weeks later under international pressure.

Since then, negotiations between the M23 and the government have been held in Kampala, but no serious outcome has yet been announced.

The group split on Wednesday following a dispute over leadership. The president of the movement, Jean-Marie Runiga, was dismissed by Gen. Makenga, the military leader of the movement. Runiga left with the second strongman of the M23, Gen. Baudoin Ngaruye and Bosco Ntaganda, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court.

Both factions have been fighting each other since, creating a power vacuum in the M23 stronghold. Following the Congolese army handover of Rutshuru and Kiwanja to Makenga's faction, Runiga's faction issued a statement saying that the army should have given them the territory.

Runiga, in the statement, accused Makenga of being an ally of Congo's military.

The faction led by Ntaganda and Runiga, positioned on the road to Goma near Kibumba, had apparently attempted to take Goma on Sunday, but were pushed back by the U.N. peacekeeping forces, the U.N. mission in Congo said.

"We fired on Bosco Ntaganda's positions because they moved towards Goma. We told them to stop their movements but they resisted. We sent helicopters that fired on their positions. It was near Kibati," said Alexandre Essome, a spokesman for MONUSCO, the U.N. mission in Congo.

Runiga's faction could not be reached for comment on the attempt.

View the original article here