Ten French soldiers have been killed in battles with the Taliban near the Afghan capital, a French presidency source said, as troops thwarted a second attack on a key US military base in as many days.
Military officials in Kabul said the fierce clashes started with an attack Monday (local time) on an International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) patrol in Sarobi district, about 50 kilometres east of the capital Kabul.
The French source, who requested anonymity, said the soldiers were killed following a “Taliban ambush”.
Most of the 3,000 French troops participating in the 40-nation ISAF are in Kabul province, which includes Sarobi, and Kapisa province, north-east of the capital.
It was the deadliest incident for international soldiers in post-Taliban Afghanistan, excluding helicopter or plane crashes. Nine US soldiers were killed in an attack on a base in north-eastern Kunar province on July 13.
The incident was the deadliest for the French army since a 1983 bombing in Lebanon in which 58 French parachutists were killed.
In Kabul, ISAF said only that soldiers were involved in a “significant incident with insurgents”.
Details could not be released until the fighting was over, it said.
An Afghan military officer said earlier, on condition of anonymity, that 10 ISAF soldiers were killed and another 20 were wounded in the fighting in Sarobi.
Afghan defence ministry spokesman General Mohammad Zahir Azimi would not comment on ISAF casualties but said at least 13 attackers, including a Pakistani national, had been killed.
“Thirteen bodies that the enemy left behind have been recovered but their casualties are much higher,” he said.
Fourteen other rebels and two Afghan soldiers were wounded, he said.
The extremist Taliban said it had attacked ISAF troops in Sarobi and blown up several vehicles.
“We have inflicted heavy casualties,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed said.
The military had responded with air strikes that killed five Taliban and several civilians, he said.
Taliban statements are not always accurate and the information could not be independently verified.
Before the latest fighting, about a dozen French soldiers had lost their lives in Afghanistan since the French military arrived in 2003, two years after the fall of the Taliban regime.
Meanwhile in the eastern town of Khost, ISAF and Afghan troops thwarted an attack on Camp Salerno, the biggest US military base in eastern Afghanistan which is located 30 kilometres from the border with Pakistan.
About 30 fighters tried to storm Salerno, Khost province governor Arsala Jamal said, but ISAF said they were stopped about 1,000 metres from the camp.
Troops in the base had identified them “posturing to attack the base and engaged them with small-arms fire,” the NATO force said.
Helicopters arrived soon afterwards and opened fire on the rebels as they tried to flee.
Seven were killed, six of them suicide bombers, ISAF said. Of those, three died after they detonated their suicide vests and three other would-be suicide bombers were killed by troops, who suffered no casualties.
Mr Azimi said 13 attackers were killed.
“Six blew themselves up, six others died in the explosions and one died in gunfire from commandos. Their bodies have been recovered,” he said.
“A most intense terrorist mass suicide operation was thwarted,” the defence ministry said in a statement.
The Khost governor’s office said two children had also been killed in the fighting.
It was the second attack on the base in as many days. A suicide car bomb outside the base on Monday killed 10 Afghan labourers waiting to enter and wounded 13 more.
The Taliban said it was behind both attacks on the camp.
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.A new $8.5 million Defence research facility in Sydney will use 3D technology for the first time to develop counter-terrorism measures for Australia’s ports and harbours.
Federal Defence Science Minister Warren Snowdon says Australia’s ports and harbours are vulnerable to terrorist attacks.
The facility has opened in Redfern today and will allow scientists to simulate attacks on Sydney Harbour.
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“Not only are Navy assets and Australian lives at risk from a terrorist attack on our seaports, there will be clearly a significant impact on Australia’s international trade and economy if such an attack were to take place,” he said
.A Canberra court has heard that a 22-year-old Sydney man who is charged with murdering his girlfriend in a hit-and-run accident was driving the vehicle that hit her.
Wayne Antoniazzo, of Narellan Vale, is accused of running over and killing his girlfriend Amaranta Vega on New Years Day in Gungahlin.
The victim’s aunt Cleo Adams-Vega told the court she heard a bang and saw her niece lying on the road.
Seven witnesses gave evidence at today’s committal hearing.
Three neighbours have also given evidence saying they witnessed two people arguing before the accident.
She said as the car that hit her got closer, she saw Antoniazzo was driving.
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The hearing will continue tomorrow
.In a surprise move, the woman accused of masterminding the murder of a couple at Nowra on the New South Wales south coast, has taken the stand at her sentencing hearing.
About midway through her New South Wales Supreme Court trial, 37-year-old Kim Leanne Snibson pleaded guilty to the kidnapping and murder of Gregory Hosa and Kathryn McKay whose bodies were found in smouldering barrels in 2006.
Snibson, who did not take the stand during her trial, today said she had extra-marital affairs in the years before the murders but that she was trying to reconcile her marriage.
Two accomplices, Stacey Lea Caton and Andrew Flentjar have already been sentenced for their role in the kidnapping and murders.
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Her barrister Alex Radojev said his client will take the stand again tomorrow
.A private detective who investigated unfaithful partners is appealing against a nine-month jail sentence handed down for posing as a federal agent.
The sentence surprised 28-year-old Brett Sutcliffe’s lawyer, who had argued for leniency in the case.
Downing Centre Local Court heard Sutcliffe was carrying out surveillance in a parked car at North Bondi last July.
Sutcliffe’s lawyers later said he would challenge the sentence and Sutcliffe was released on bail pending the appeal.
The woman realised who he was six weeks later when she saw a television report on his company “Spousebusters”.
When a 77-year-old woman asked him to move from a disabled parking space he said he was a federal investigator and later sent her a threatening letter saying she had interfered with an Australian Federal Police investigation.
He also said his client would suffer financial hardship after his licence was cancelled.
Arguing for leniency, Sutcliffe’s lawyer told the court his client had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity to charges of impersonating a Commonwealth public official and using the postal service to menace, harass or offend.
And though Sutcliffe’s lawyer said he had not engaged in physical intimidation, Ms O’Shane said Sutcliffe’s offence was against an elderly woman and that the letter he sent was intimidating.
But Magistrate Pat O’Shane, imposing a custodial sentence rather than a fine, said it was a serious offence.
A copy of the letter he sent to Pauline English formed part of the fact sheet tendered to the court.
Ms O’Shane had previously ordered Sutcliffe to undergo counselling, saying the incident reeked of immaturity. Sutcliffe was also fined $5,000.
Sutcliffe displayed no reaction as Ms O’Shane handed down the sentence of 12 months’ jail with a non-parole period of nine months followed by a good behaviour bond.
.The New South Wales Opposition says an independent review of CityRail’s maintenance procedures should be released publicly.
The State Government commissioned Keith Clark to review maintenance in RailCorp depots.
He says while any breakdown is aggravating for commuters, roughly one a day is to be expected in a system as big as CityRail’s.
Transport Minister John Watkins says the Clark report is currently before the Industrial Relations Commission.
“We are working as hard as we can to improve the situation and statistics show that in fact is happening.
“We are spending a huge amount of money on maintenance on insuring our rolling stock and the rails and the overhead wiring are set up for the future,” he said.
“We don’t understand why the State Government hasn’t released what’s in it and hasn’t explained what its doing in relation to the report,” she said.”
But Opposition transport spokeswoman Gladys Berejiklian says with 136 breakdowns causing major disruption to the rail system over the past 100 days, people have a right to know what is going on.
.The committal hearing has begun for a Sydney man charged with murdering his girlfriend in a hit-and-run in Canberra.
Wayne Antoniazzo, 22, is accused of running over and killing his girlfriend Amaranta Vega, 18, on New Year’s Day outside a house in the northern suburb of Gungahlin.
Drode Vega told the court he saw a car hit a body on the road without stopping.
The ACT Magistrate’s Court today heard from the victim’s cousin Drode Vega who was also attending a New Year’s Eve party at the house when the incident happened.
Mr Vega said the car belonged to the victim but he was unable to identify the driver of the vehicle.
He said he ran over to the body and realised it was his cousin.
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The hearing continues
.Rescuers say a baby humpback whale separated from its mother in Sydney’s north is at risk of being eaten by a shark.
The whale was found at Pittwater on the weekend and rescuers lured it out to Broken Head Bay yesterday in the hope it would head for open sea and find its mother.
He says the whale is getting weaker, putting it at risk of a shark attack.
National Parks and Wildlife Service spokesman Chris McIntosh says the calf now appears to be heading back towards Pittwater.
“As that happens it does become a little bit susceptible to predators.
“As it runs out of body reserves, it may beach itself or simply slip away from us in shallow water,” he said.
“It is important for people to recognise even though it’s a calf, it’s a substantial sized animal and therefore the options are very limited once you start to intervene in what is an unpleasant but natural process,” he said.”
Mr McIntosh says the five-tonne calf has most likely been rejected by its mother, and taking it into captivity is not an option.
.A former Sydney accountant charged with running an overseas money laundering scheme will front court again in October.
Robert Agius, an Australian now living in Vanuatu, is charged with conspiring to defraud the Commonwealth and the Australian Tax Office of more than $100 million and dealing in the proceeds of crime.
The 58-year-old was arrested in May when he flew to Perth to visit a colleague.
Federal police allege he laundered money for about 400 Australian clients by transferring it to Vanuatu and New Zealand so they could avoid paying tax.
Robert Agius fronted Downing Centre Court today where magistrate Pat O’Shane continued his bail. He was then extradited from Perth to Sydney.4 million security, handed in his passport and reported to police twice a day.
He was granted bail in May on the condition he provided a $4.
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The matter will return to court in October
.Police are investigating three separate armed hold-ups involving syringes across Sydney last night.
The first incident happened in a shop at Neutral Bay about 4:25pm when a man approached the counter demanding cash.
He is described as being white/European, aged between 30 and 40, about 180 centimetres tall, of slim build with short brown hair.
Police say the man threatened a staff member with a syringe before taking off with the money.
This man is described as white/European in appearance, aged in his 30s and of slim build.
Later that night a man entered a inner city store on Oxford Street, threatening staff with a syringe and demanding money.
In the third robbery, a man armed with a syringe demanded money from a taxi driver in Stanley Street, Darlinghurst. He was wearing a blue jacket and black pants. He was wearing a tan coloured jumper and a dark beanie.
He is described as white/European, about 35-year-old with a slim build.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
No-one was injured in the hold-ups and police are examining CCTV footage.