Service member killed in battle

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A U.S. service member was killed on patrol in western Afghanistan today, while insurgents in the east attacked police posts and a government building, sparking a battle that killed six policemen and 21 insurgents, officials said.

The American, who was not identified, was killed during “a combat reconnaissance patrol” in Farah province, the U.S. military said, without providing other details.

As of Tuesday, at least 646 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department. Of those, the military reports 479 were killed by hostile action.

In neighboring Helmand province, a British soldier died Tuesday night in an explosion, the British Defense Ministry said. He was the seventh British soldier killed in Afghanistan in a week, the ministry said.

The attacks against government facilities started Tuesday in the Barghe Matal district of Nuristan province and continued into the following day, spokesman Zemerai Bashary said.

Hundreds of insurgents attacked the police posts and a government center in Barghe Matal, Bashary said.

“We are working on a plan to send reinforcements,” Bashary said.

Insurgents historically used Nuristan’s mountainous and heavily wooded terrain as a base for operations. The remote province borders Pakistan’s tribal area, where insurgents are also active.

The Obama administration has declared that eliminating militant havens in Pakistan and Afghanistan is vital to its goals of defeating al-Qaida and winning the war in Afghanistan.

A new U.N. report says that Afghan women are increasingly the victims of violence, including rapes and acid-throwing attacks at the hands of anti-government elements and local chieftains.

The situation is further aggravated by impunity for perpetrators and the failure of authorities to protect woman’s rights, the report states.

The U.N.’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, said the opportunities that opened for Afghan woman after the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001 are under sustained attack, not only from the Taliban but also due to deeply ingrained cultural practices.

Afghan women are also increasingly victims of so-called “honor” killings, trafficking, forced marriages and domestic violence, according to the report issued Wednesday.