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Taliban vow attacks on British reinforcements

Posted on: Tuesday, 11 July 2006, 00:12 CDT

SPIN BOLDAK, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Afghanistan's Taliban said on Tuesday they would greet British reinforcements heading to the southern province of Helmand with ferocious attacks.

Britain announced on Monday it would send 900 more troops and additional helicopters to southern Afghanistan, where a force meant as the spearhead of a NATO peace mission has faced fierce Taliban resistance.

"We will greet more British troops in Helmand with fresh attacks," Taliban commander Mullah Hayat Khan told Reuters by telephone.

"We'll attack the British troops with such ferocity they will flee," he said.

British troops are spearheading a major expansion of NATO peacekeepers into volatile southern areas which have seen some of the worst fighting since U.S. and Afghan opposition forces toppled the Taliban in 2001.

The reinforcements will arrive over coming months, bringing the total of British troops in the south to 4,500. One thousand more are based at NATO headquarters in Kabul.

"We are already causing British troops losses in lives and equipment every day in Helmand," Khan said. "The increase in British troops means we will have more British targets."

"Foreign troops in Afghanistan are already suffering huge losses. Our suicide bombers are searching for targets every day," he said.

The Taliban were ousted in late 2001 after refusing to hand over Osama bin Laden, architect of the September 11 attacks. They are now fighting to expel foreign troops and defeat the Western-backed government.

Source: REUTERS

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