Officials: 3 US soldiers killed in Pakistan blast

[cory777]

Source: AP

By MUNIR AHMAD, Associated Press Writer Munir Ahmad, Associated Press Writer – 1 min ago

ISLAMABAD – Three U.S. soldiers traveling with Pakistan security force members were killed Wednesday in a roadside bomb attack in northwest Pakistan, Pakistani security officials said.

The three were in the region as part of a small, little-publicized U.S. mission to train members of the paramilitary Frontier Corps to better fight al-Qaida and Taliban militants, the officials said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.

The U.S. Embassy declined to comment. If the deaths are confirmed by American authorities, they would represent a major victory for militants close to the Afghan border who have been hit hard in recent months by a surge in U.S. missile strikes and a major Pakistani army offensive.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100203/ap_on_re_as/as_pakistan

[maddezmom]

1. CNN had them listed as aid workers

Foreign aid workers killed in Pakistan blast By Reza Sayah, CNN
Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) -- Three foreign aid workers were among eight people killed Wednesday when a roadside bomb struck a convoy on its way to a girls' school opening in northwest Pakistan.

The explosion took place in Lower Dir in the North West Frontier Province, which has repeatedly come under militant attack in recent months.

The nationalities of the foreigners were not immediately known. The dead also included three students.


http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/02/03/pakistan.attack/

[cory777]

2. That's interesting?

[maddezmom]

3. and BBC is still calling them foreigners

Foreigners killed in north-west Pakistan explosion

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/8494890.stm

I'm wondering if they were CIA not US military.

[maddezmom]

4. BBC is now confirming that they were US Marines

traveling with journalists and aid workers.

[Soylent Brice]

7. link:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8494890.stm

Three US soldiers are among at least 10 people killed in an attack on a convoy near a school in north-west Pakistan.

Police said around 70 people, including 63 school girls and a US soldier, were injured in the bombing in Lower Dir.

The soldiers were believed to have been training Pakistan's Frontier Corps in counter-insurgency operations.

The two governments deny substantial numbers of US troops are based inside Pakistan, where public opinion is strongly opposed to their presence.

The US embassy has declined to comment on the killings.

[dipsydoodle]

5. That is a bit odd.

If you search now for "3 US soldiers killed in Pakistan blast" you come up with a whole page of links with todays date and one from yesterday just saying "some foreigners were killed".

[nod factor]

6. This is what irks me.

If you're gonna be a monger in the middle east at least be honest about it and quit hiding behind robotics and drones.

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. Notice that this was also an attack on girls' schools

70 injured, including 63 schoolgirls. From the BBC report:

The US soldiers were thought to be travelling in a convoy, along with Pakistani troops, that was heading to the inauguration ceremony of a newly-built girls' school in Maidan, an area of Lower Dir district in the North West Frontier Province.

The blast occurred near a different school in Koto, a heavily populated village along the route.

The impact flattened much of the Koto Girls' High School, leaving pupils crying for help from under the rubble.
...
The Taliban has frequently targeted girls' schools in recent years, burning several to the ground. Many are now being rebuilt

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/8494890.stm

[bemildred]

9. Pakistani bombing kills 3 U.S. soldiers

Source: LA Times

Reporting from Islamabad, Pakistan - Three U.S. soldiers involved in training members of Pakistan's paramilitary Frontier Corps were among seven people killed Wednesday by a roadside bomb outside a girls school in northwest Pakistan, a setback for a program regarded as vital to the defeat of Taliban and Al Qaeda militants.

The soldiers were in a convoy heading toward an inauguration ceremony at a different girls school that had been destroyed by the Taliban but recently rebuilt with financial support from U.S. humanitarian sources. Local police said they believed that the bomb was detonated by remote control.

In a statement released late Wednesday afternoon, the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad said that, in addition to the three soldiers killed, two U.S. troops were wounded. Pakistani security officials said three girls inside the school and one Frontier Corps member were also slain.

An embassy spokesman would not identify the U.S. troops killed or injured, and declined to release any additional information.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-pakistan-blast4-2010feb04,0,6339898.story

[enonymous99]

10. Why?

Since when do we have boots on the ground in Pakistan?

[Socal31]

11. Who in the world do you think operates/maintains/guards the UAVs that are based there?

[bemildred]

12. Blast kills 3 U.S. troops in northwest Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN -- Three American troops were killed Wednesday in a bombing in the volatile northwest region of Pakistan, a nation where U.S. military involvement is a highly sensitive matter and where American ground personnel rarely suffer casualties.

The attack targeted forces who were part of a contingent of U.S. military trainers. They were traveling to Lower Dir, a district in North-West Frontier Province that Pakistan's military has said it wrested from Taliban control.

The American military deaths were the first in Pakistan in recent years and shined a light on a joint training program that U.S. and Pakistani military officials have strived to keep quiet.

As many as 100 U.S. Special Forces members are in this country, most of them instructing the weak and poorly equipped Pakistani paramilitary forces battling insurgents in the rugged areas bordering Afghanistan.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1147463.html

[bemildred]

13. Pakistan faces backlash after U.S. troops attack

---

Wednesday's attack at a girls' school near the Afghan border is likely to generate elaborate conspiracy theories, with one simple question already asked: Why were special ops troops attending the inauguration of a girls school anyway?

First television channels said the dead foreigners were journalists, then officials said they were aid workers. Only later did the Pakistani military and the U.S. embassy say they were American soldiers.

Pakistan's foreign ministry spokesman said the U.S. soldiers were invited by the Pakistani paramilitary Frontier Corps to attend the inauguration of the U.S.-funded project.

---

The possibility Pakistan's Taliban may have known U.S. troops were traveling in the convoy will ring new alarm bells.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6131X520100204

[bemildred]

14. Pakistani Taliban claim bombing that killed 3 Americans

Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) -- The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility Thursday for Wednesday's deadly attack, now thought to be a suicide bombing, in northwestern Pakistan that killed three U.S. military service members.

Taliban spokesman Azim Tariq said the strike was retaliation for an October attack by American security contractors on civilians in a Peshawar market.

The Taliban blame Xe, the security contracting firm once known as Blackwater, for that incident, which it says killed "more than 100 innocents." In the past, the Taliban have blamed the United States and the contractors for suicide attacks targeting civilians.

"We know the movement of U.S. Marines and Blackwater guys," Tariq said. "And we have prepared suicide bombers to go after them."

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/02/04/pakistan.attack.claim/

[daleo]

15. Military advisors

Like the early says in Viet Nam. Which would be a picnic compared to Pakistan.