Eleven police officers and two insurgents were killed in a rebel attack in western Afghanistan's Herat province Sept. 21. "We lost 11 policemen. They were attacked while on a patrol in a village near their headquarters in Salama Dam," said Herat Gov. Sayed Gul Chishti. The police were guarding the hydroelectric dam, which is being built by Indian engineers, when they came under attack by rebels loyal to Ghulam Mustafa, a former Mujahedeen commander "who has now joined the Taliban," Chishti said. Mustafa admitted his men killed the police but denied his links to the Taliban, in a telephone interview with the French AFP news agency. "I'm not with the Taliban. We killed 10 policemen. They were the ones attacking us first," the rebel commander told AFP. (AlJazeera, Sept. 21)

Pakistan's government is blaming al-Qaeda operatives for the deadly Sept. 21 blast at the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad. The attacker failed to get through a secondary barrier when he crashed his explosive-laden truck into the hotel's security gates, killing 53 and wounding over 250. The bomb went off close to 8 PM, when the hotel's restaurant was packed with Muslim diners breaking their daily Ramadan fast. The head of Pakistan's Interior Ministry Rehman Malik said the blast left a crater 18 meters wide and seven deep, shattering the front of the hotel and igniting an intense fire that left the building in ruins.

Pakistan's army chief harshly criticized the US military for making unilateral cross-border raids from Afghanistan Sept. 12. Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, Chief of Army Staff, said there was "no agreement or understanding with the coalition forces whereby they are allowed to conduct operations on our side of the border." Pakistan would defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity "at all costs," he said.

At least 25 civilians were killed and 50 injured in an armed attack on a Sunni mosque Sept. 10 in the Maskanai area of lower Dir (NWFP), Pakistan. Unidentified militants threw grenades in the mosque in Banai village, less than three kilometers from the Afghan border during Taravih (Ramadan night prayers) and fired at the worshipers. No group has claimed responsibility, even as security forces cordoned off the area and beefed up security after the attack.

A NATO air-strike in Afghanistan's Khost province missed its target Sept. 9, striking a house, killing two civilians and wounding 10. NATO said their forces were targeting an insurgent position when a weapon accidentally misfired, veering one and a half miles of course. "An immediate investigation into the cause of the incident has been launched and further details will be forthcoming once established," a NATO statement said. (BBC, ABC, Reuters, Sept. 9)

From Human Rights Watch, Sept. 8:

Afghanistan: Civilian Deaths From Airstrikes on the Rise
Airstrikes Cause Public Backlash, Undermine Protection Efforts
New York – Civilian deaths in Afghanistan from US and NATO airstrikes nearly tripled from 2006 to 2007, with recent deadly airstrikes exacerbating the problem and fuelling a public backlash, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today. The report also condemns the Taliban's use of "human shields" in violation of the laws of war.

NATO-led forces killed three Afghan children and injured seven in artillery fire Sept. 1 after a patrol came under fire from presumed Taliban insurgents in Gayan district, Paktika province. The rounds fell close to a house where the children were later found dead, according to a statement from NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). "ISAF deeply regrets this accident and an investigation as to the exact circumstances of this tragic event is now under way," the statement said. Afghanistan's government counts more than 500 civilians killed during operations by foreign and Afghan forces this year.

The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) reported that an investigation by its human rights team found that some 90 civilians were killed, including 60 children, during operations carried out by international and Afghan military forces on Aug. 21 in Shindand district in Afghanistan's western Herat province—contradicting claims of the US government.