Two Daring Attacks on US Troops in Afghanistan

In Baghlan in northern Afghanistan, a suicide bomber killed two US troops while meeting at a local police station. Baghlan, a center of sugar beet production, is largely Tajik (Sunni Persian-speakers) but has a Pushtun minority, some of whom are anti-American and anti-Karzai government. In November of 2007, Taliban there hit a sugar factory during a parliamentary visit, killing some 100 persons, including 6 legislators.

In Wardak to the south, Taliban shot at a US helicopter with small arms, forcing it down. There were no casualties.

Mulla Rashid Akhund, the Taliban commander in Wardak, claimed to have 2000 fighters as of last winter.