Afghanistan's border base sees frequent clashes with Taliban

The Bermel military base is located in the east of Afghanistan's eastern province Paktika and it is only 10 kilometers from Pakistan.

About 400 to 500 Afghan soldiers are deployed in the base, which lies on a desert-like plain and is surrounded by high walls and thorny wire netting. Civilian houses are scattering one or two kilometers away.

"Our base is often attacked by rockets launched by Taliban militants on the mountains," said Abdul Karim, an Afghan solider who is in his twenties and serving in the base.

"I and my comrades fought with some Taliban insurgents yesterday on the mountains to the west and the fight lasted from 7: 30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.," said Karim on Wednesday.

Some U.S. soldiers are also stationed there, but an Afghan interpreter for the military being asked declined to tell the number of them, saying "It is a military secret."

A U.S. officer told Xinhua that about 20 Taliban militants were killed in the conflict on Tuesday, which Karim fought in, and three others were arrested.

Seventeen bodies of the militants were lying on the ground in a compound in the base, bullet holes clearly seen on some bodies. The U.S. officer said several bodies were still left on the mountains.

Paktika and other eastern provinces have suffered from rising Taliban-linked violence this year as numerous attacks and clashes occurred.

In recent cases, six Afghan soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb planted by the Taliban in the neighboring Paktia province on Oct. 14, while governor of the province Abdul Hakim Taniwal was killed by a suicide bomber on Sept. 10.

Thousands of Afghan and U.S. troops are carrying out Operation Mountain Fury mainly in the eastern provinces to wipe out Taliban militants there.

Due to Taliban-related insurgence, Afghanistan has plunged into the worst spate of bloodshed this year after the Taliban regime was toppled down nearly five years ago.

Over 2,400 people, mostly Taliban rebels, have been killed in this volatile country in the past 10 months.

The military base in Bermel is just one of the Afghan outposts which fight and are attacked by Taliban militants on a daily base.

Sentries in the base keep watch vigilantly on high bunkers around the clock, and cannons, U.S. Humvee vehicles as well as soldiers are being ready at any time.

Suddenly, huge cannon sound rocked the base. Some U.S. artillerymen in the base were bombarding the mountains to the east and the north, where some Taliban militants were said to have been detected.

Source: Xinhua