Pakistani officials announced they had apprehended six al-Qaeda suspects in Karachi, Pakistan. One of the men, Waleed bin Attash (aka Khalid al-Attash, was a Yemeni national wanted in connection with the USS Cole bombing. The other five suspects were Pakistanis. The six suspects were allegedly planning to carry out a series of terrorist attacks in Karachi and other parts of Pakistan.
Rebel forces attacked military posts, an ammunition depot, the district commissioner's office and other government installations in Spin Boldak, Afghanistan, killing three Afghan soldiers and injuring two.
A Belgian court opened and immediately adjourned the trial of 12 suspects linked to the September 9, 2001 murder of Afghan rebel Ahmad Shah Masood. The presiding judge ruled that the trial would resume May 22. Also, Afghan President Hamid Karzai appointed a commission to track down those who ordered the murder. Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali was named to lead the commission.
U.S. Maj. Gen. John Vines, commander of 82nd Airborne Division in Afghanistan, handed control of combat missions to Lt. Gen. Dan McNeill, the overall commander of coalition troops in Afghanistan. Vines stated "I think there are renegade elements in Iran who have an interest in controlling a portion of Afghanistan....I think there are elements in Pakistan — not the government — that have an interest in creating instability....In certain parts, the country is stable. In other parts, it's terribly dangerous....That has not changed and that probably won't change in the foreseeable future....If you had to design an area to support an anti-government movement, you might describe an area like this....Multiple borders, extreme distances, lack of road infrastructure, high mountains, weak central government, areas where there are religious or tribal (conflicts)....It applies absolutely right here."
A tractor pulling a trailer carrying Afghan villagers along a road leading to the border with Uzbekistan hit a landmine, killing two.
Amnesty International condemned a United Kingdom decision to forcibly return a group of asylum-seekers to Afghanistan. An Amnesty International mission earlier in April concluded that conditions were still not conducive to the promotion of voluntary and forced returns.
Close air support was called in by U.S. forces after men were spotted near the U.S. base at Shkin, Afghanistan. The men were apparently trying to retrieve a body of one of the opposing fighters killed a clash there on April 25. Pakistani forces across the nearby border were contacted and conducted an operation that led to the arrest of two people.
The United Nations and the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission accused fighters in Badghis province, Afghanistan of violating human rights during clashes in March between rebel forces and soldiers loyal to the local governor, Gul Mohammed Khan. The human rights delegation confirmed that at least 38 civilians, including three women and 12 children, were killed as homes and shops were looted in Akazi. In the same area, local forces pursing Juma Khan, executed 26 prisoners, whose hand were tied behind their backs.
At Shkin, in Paktika province, Afghanistan, near the Pakistani border, two U.S. soldiers were killed and several other U.S. and Afghan soldiers were wounded in a clash with unknown attackers. The U.S. estimated that at least three of the attackers were killed. Two F-16 Fighting Falcons, two USAF A-10 Thunderbolt tankbusters and two AH-64 Apache attack helicopters responded. Two days later, two rebel corpses were discovered near the site.
In Kabul, Afghanistan, the Irish Club shut itself down after warnings that it could be the target of a terror attack. The nightclub had originally opened on March 17. It was frequented by aid workers, diplomats and journalists. Afghanis were not allowed to patronize the club because the sale of alcohol was against the law.
Yunis Qanuni, the Afghan Minister of Education, appealed for donors to provide more funds for schools. To date, the ministry had received US$86 million in 2003, leaving the budget short US$114 million.
After a meeting in Islamabad, between Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah and Pakistani Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmud Kasuri, the two nations announced an agreement to hold political consultations twice a year in Islamabad and Kabul alternatively. The purpose of the meetings was to monitor progress in the promotion of bilateral cooperation and to take follow-up actions.
During a joint meeting between Pakistani and Afghan Ministers at the finance ministry in [Islamabad]], Pakistan Finance minister Shaukat Aziz offered Afghanistan the chance to establish a free industrial zone near the Torkhum and Chaman border. Also during the meeting, Afghanistan identified over 3,000 projects and invited the private sector to invest in them.
The U.S. military reported that "a handful" of the Afghan war prisoners held at Camp X-Ray in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, had been identified as juveniles and were separated from the adult prisoners.
Using rockets and automatic weapons, rebel fighters attacked a government office in Chapan in Zabul province, Afghanistan. Two Afghan soldiers and three assailants were killed in the four-hour shootout.
The highest ranking Afghan officials, including President Hamid Karzai arrived Islamabad, Pakistan to discuss border disputes, terrorism, trade, and exchanges of prisoners. Tensions between the two nations had recently flaired up along the ill-defined Durand line, each side accusing the other of intrusion. Many in the Afghan government still viewed Pakistan, which nurtured and supported the Taliban regime, with suspicion. Accusations had been made that Pakistan was harboring Taliban fugutives. Pakistan had concerns about Afghanistan's failure to fulfil promises in March to release up to 800 Pakistani prisoners. In the course of the day, Karzai met separately with Pakistani Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali and President Pervez Musharraf.
A U.S. Special Forces soldier was treated in Orgun, Afghanistan for a gunshot wound to the thigh.
Afghan authorities announced that they had arrested five men on suspicion of murdering four foreign journalists at Tangi Abrishum on November 19, 2001.
The Pakistan government announced that it had released 50 Afghan prisoners as a gesture of goodwill, a day before Afghan President Hamid Karzai was to arrive for meetings.
The cabinet of Afghan President Hamid Karzai approved a law allowing cable television networks in Kabul to resume broadcasting programs. Cable broadcasts had been banned by the supreme court Chief Justice Mawlavi Fazl Hadi Shinwari earlier in the year for being obscene and un-Islamic.
In a southern Afghan raid aimed at catching those responsible for the March 27 murder of Ricardo Munguia, U.S. special forces killing one man and detained seven others. Weapons were also seized by the U.S. forces.
In Uruzgan province, Afghanistan, rebels fired rockets at an Afghan patrol, killing two. Afghan forces returned fire, killing three rebels and wounding three others.
An emergency meeting was held in Kabul, Afghanistan at the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development with U.N. agencies and NGOs for the coordination of relief efforts for the 200 families displaced by flooding on April 18.
In Afghanistan, a two-day national military meeting, that brought together regional commanders, government leaders and commanders of U.S.-led forces for the first time, came to a close.
A man standing on the roof of a building in an Afghan army compound shot at a vehicle as it left Bagram Air Base; there were no injuries. Later, another man fired rounds near the base's south gate.
Dana Rohrabacher, a senior member of the U.S. Congress foreign relations committee, met with rival faction leaders Abdul Rashid Dostum and Ustad Atta Mohammad in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan. After the meeting, Rohrabacher told the media that, if bloody ethnic feuds were to be resolved in Afghanistan, regional autonomy was essential.
At least 30 people died from powerful floods that washed away houses in the Sha Gho valley of Helmand province, Afghanistan. 25 others were missing.
On the Shomali plain just north of Kabul, Afghanistan, three children were missing and 200 families were evacuated by helicopter due to flood waters.
Afghan border forces clashed with alleged Pakistani militiamen who intruded into border village of Gulam Khan, south of the town of Khost. However, Pakistani officials denied that any of their militia had crossed the border, saying Afghan soldiers had merely traded fire with tribesmen living in the border region.
A blast occurred on a highway that was being reconstructed by the Afghan government in Sabiqa, Timanee district, in Kabul, but did not cause any damage or casualties. A second bomb nearby was defused.
107mm rockets were fired on the U.S. base in Urgan-e in Paktika province. The closest rocked landed about 400 meters from the base. There were no casualties or damage.
In Shkin, Afghanistan, on the border with Pakistan, U.S.-led coalition forces detained two people trying to smuggle into Afghanistan mines concealed in three television sets.
During Operation Carpathian Lightning, over two days, Romanian troops found three caches of weapons in two caves near the town of Qalat in Zabul province, Afghanistan. The caches included 3,000 107mm rockets, 250,000 rounds of 12.7mm machinegun ammunition, about 1,000,000 rounds of small arms ammunition and other ammunition and mines.
NATO agreed to take command in August of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. The decision came at the request of Germany and the Netherlands, the two nations leading ISAF at the time of the agreement. It was approved unanimously by all 19 NATO ambassadors. This marked first time in NATO's history that it took charge of a mission outside the north Atlantic area. Canada had originally been slated to take over ISAF in August.
A blast damaged the UNICEF office in Jalalabad, but there were no casualties. The office was empty at the time. Security commander Haji Ajab Shah said the explosion appeared to have been caused by an improvised explosive device made from automatic rifle bullets.
The U.S. Task Force Devil found 271 rocket-propelled grenades, four RPG launchers, 40 mortar rounds and hundreds of cases of ammunition for heavy machine guns in the village of Khar Bolah in Ghazni province, Afghanistan, 50 miles south of Kabul.
Over 100 Afghan and U.S. soldiers crossed into Pakistan along the Durand Line allegedly without realizing it to conduct a survey to supply water to tribesmen. They had been invited by a local tribal leader, but were forced to leave the area after Pakistan forces challenged them. Coalition forces claimed that no direct firing took place, but machine gun firing took place. Hundreds of troops were then deployed by Pakistan and Afghanistan. Afghan forces moved tanks, heavy weaponry and reinforcements to the area.
While driving to Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghan Commander Shahi and two of his bodyguards were killed in an ambush in the Char Bolak area. Shahi had served for more than 15 years as a commander for General Abdul Rashid Dostum. The assailants were not caught, but it was alleged that they were members of the Jamiat-e-Islami group led by Ustad Atta Mohammad.
Unidentified assailants have attacked two Afghan military checkpoints outside the U.S. Gereshk base west of Kandahar, killing one Afghan soldier. The assailants were not apprehended.
Two Afghan soldiers allied to U.S.-coalition troops were shot and killed near Spinboldak. It was unclear in what circumstances the deaths occurred.
A blast caused by a device containing around five kilograms of explosives left a two-meter crater at the side of the main Kabul-Jalalabad road in Afghanistan.
A taxi packed with explosives exploded in Karwan Sarui, four miles east of Khost, Afghanistan, killing four people who apparently were planning a terrorist attack. Two of the killed were unidentified Pakistani nationals and one man was from Yemen. The fourth, the driver, was identified as Bacha Malkhui in one report and Zarat Khan in another report, a former intelligence officer for the deposed Taliban government. The blast destroyed a two-story home and injured a nearby woman.
The International Committee of the Red Cross announced it had resumed most of its operations in Afghanistan after a two-week suspension following the murder of Ricardo Munguia. However, travel for ICRC employees outside many major cities remained off-limits, and, in remote areas considered insecure, some programs were postponed indefinitely or canceled. As a consequence of the heightened dangers, the ICRC also announced that it would its permanent expatriate staff in Afghanistan by about 25 people, to around 120. To date, the ICRC employed 1,500 Afghans.
Unidentified attackers threw hand-grenades at Italian troops on patrol near Khost, Afghanistan. No Italians were injured. Italian troops detained one person after the incident.
An earthquake measuring 4.6 on the Richter scale rocked Takhar province in Afghanistan, causing some casualties and destroying 200 houses. Villagers of Yaka Baghi and Sag Baghi were without shelter and needed urgent assistance. The two affected villages had been hit by heavy rains in mid-March.
Eleven Afghans were killed and one wounded when a stray U.S. laser-guided bomb hit a house on the outskirts of Shkin in Paktika province. The bomb was fired by U.S. Marine Corps AV-8 Harrier II air support that had been summoned by coalition forces in pursuit of two groups of five to 10 enemy personnel. The enemy attackers had attacked an Afghan military post checkpoint, wounding four government soldiers. Amnesty International promptly called for an investigation.
Afghan security forces on found 50 BM-12 missiles in an abandoned house in Sarobi, just east of Kabul.
Afghanistan's first computer networking class, consisting of six women and eleven men, graduated from the University of Kabul. The university's Networking Academy was jointly launched in October 2002 by the United Nations Development Program and Cisco Systems.
Officials announced a U.N.-sponsored program to disarm, demobilize and reintegrate an estimated 100,000 fighters across Afghanistan over the next three years, starting in July. Former fighters would be provided with vocational training, employment opportunities and access to credit. Others would be given the chance to apply for positions in the national army. Funded by Japan, Canada, Britain and the United States, the program has a three-year budget of $157 million.
The United Nations Children's Fund warned that millions of Afghan women and children continued to face major health and nutrition problems, with maternal and infant mortality in Afghanistan among the worst in the world. To day, Afghanistan's infant mortality rate was 165 per 1,000 live births, and its maternal mortality ratio was 1,600 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. In its report, UNICEF also said it had received 65 percent of its $35 million budget for Afghan programs in 2003 and called on donors to fill the shortage.
Nearly 50 suspected Taliban fighters attacked an Afghan government checkpost in the Shingai district of Zabul province. Three Afghan government troops were wounded. The fighters fled after a brief gun battle, but government troops captured 20 of them a day later during raids on several villages in the region.
Kandahar Governor Gul Agha Sherzai gave Taliban loyalists in his province 48 hours to leave Afghanistan. The warning came hours after his soldiers killed two Taliban fighters and captured seven others with bombs and ammunition near the town of Spinboldak.
Two men were caught with remote control explosives near the U.S. base in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
Two explosions occured in Spin Boldak, Afghanistan at a shop and a public baths, but no one was hurt.
An Afghan agricultural department official Aibak announced that an international aid organization had sent experts to Samangan province to train hundreds of people in anti-locust measures and had supplied spraying equipment to eliminate the pest. Locusts were threatening the crops of the region for a second year running.
The United Nations extended a ban on travel for its staff in southern Afghanistan to give local authorities time to improve security in the area where a foreign aid worker was murdered a weak earlier.
The U.N. special investigator for human rights in Afghanistan, Kamal Hossain, told the United Nations Human Rights Commission meeting in Geneva that insufficient funding for Afghanistan could jeopardize the development of such groups as the army and police, which are important to ensure stability. He added that the absence of enough security forces would embolden warlords around the country to harass different ethnic tribes and to roll back educational opportunities for women and girls. To date, Afghanistan had received almost $2 billion out the $4.5 billion pledged by the international community.
The humanitarian projects board of the U.S.-led coalition approved 19 assistance and reconstruction projects valued at $722,000. The projects included water improvement and the construction of medical clinics and schools in 10 provinces.
Afghan militia soldiers (number about 250) and U.S.-led coalition plane-strikes killed eight suspected Taliban fighters in the Tor Ghar mountains near Spinboldak, Afghanistan. One Afghan militia member was killed and three others were injured. Fifteen suspects were taken into custody. In the cleanup the soldiers also found and confiscated light machine guns, bomb-making materials, improvised explosive devices, two trucks, two motorcycles and ammunition. More than 35,000 pounds of ordnance were dropped or fired from five types of aircraft — Harrier jets, B-1 bombers, A-10 Thunderbolts and helicopter gunships — on the rebel positions.
Haji Gilani and his nephew were killed outside their home in Deh Rawood, Afghanistan by six gunmen. According to witnesses, one of the gunmen was Mardan Khan, whose brother was a Taliban commander, but no arrests were made.
A deminer from U.S. military contractor Ronco lost his right foot after stepping on a mine near the Bagram base in Afghanistan.
U.S. soldiers called in B-1 bombers and A-10 aircraft after three explosions apparently caused by rockets shook a U.S. military post in the Asadabad, Afghanistan. The planes did not strike.
A 9-year-old Afghan boy was evacuated from Deh Rahwood to a U.S.-led base in Kandahar after suffering a bullet wound to the leg.
Afghan forces mounted an operation near Spinboldak against 50 to 60 suspected terrorists. Two government soldiers were killed and one wounded in the fighting. Seven suspected terrorists were captured.
Speaking on Afghan television, the Information and Culture Minister, Makhdum Rahin, said that the country was making progress in encouraging an independent media. He also encouraged Afghanistan's young journalists to criticize the government and himself personally, when mistakes were made.
In Islamabad, Shaukat Aziz announced that Pakistan would actively participate in the reconstruction of Afghanistan and undertake various development projects for the welfare of its people. Aziz said that a Pakistani private construction company has obtained a 25 million U.S. dollar contract to build a road link from Chaman to Kandahar and a 30 million US dollar sub-contract in other reconstruction projects.
A U.S. armored Humvee struck a landmine near Kandahar, Afghanistan. No one was injured. The mine caused major damage to the front end of the vehicle.
Afghan troops, following a trail in the Dara-e-Noor mountains north of Kandahar, stumbled on tents and mud huts that appeared to be a base for about 30 rebel fighters.
A patrol of U.S. soldiers investigating a rocket launch site near Gardez, Afghanistan came under small arms fire from a walled compound. An investigation of the compound "revealed a group of Afghan militia force soldiers had fired at the U.S. soldiers inadvertently."
Afghan border guards and U.S. special forces soldiers apprehended two men attempting to cross a checkpoint near Khost. The men were escorting a donkey carrying two anti-tank mines, 10 pressure plates for the mines, 10 rocket-propelled grenade rounds and high-explosive rounds.
