Family Life

10.05.09 | FL News Team

Surprise attacks by hundreds of Taliban fighters in Afghanistan have killed eight U.S. troops at two remote outposts near the Pakistani border. The attacks on Saturday were the deadliest for U.S. troops since nine were killed in a July 2008 attack in the Kunar province. Two Afghan soldiers were also killed in the brazen 13-hour attack in the mountainous Nuristan province. Afghan officials report losing contact with 90 Afghan policemen and still do not know if they are dead or alive. A Taliban spokesperson said 35 Afghan soldiers and police have been captured. The attack included suicide bombers and coordinated rushes toward the posts. The attack was so ferocious that F-16 jets and helicopter gunships were called in to repel enemy forces. The battle occurred in an area that NATO forces had planned to abandon soon in order to protect more populated areas. Nearly 400 Western troops have been killed in fighting this year alone, making it the deadliest year of the war. More Western soldiers have died this year than in the first four years of the war combined.