Taliban threatens 'bloodiest year' as UK boosts troops | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited

Taliban threatens 'bloodiest year' as UK boosts troops | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited: "Taliban threatens 'bloodiest year' as UK boosts troops


Staff and agencies
Friday February 23, 2007
Guardian Unlimited

A British patrol passes opium poppies in the Helmand province of southern Afghanistan
A British patrol passes opium poppies in southern Afghanistan's violent Helmand province. Photo: John Moore/Getty


The Taliban today threatened the deadliest year yet for foreign troops in Afghanistan as the government prepared to announce the deployment of 1,000 more British troops to the country.

'This year will prove to be the bloodiest for the foreign troops. It is not just a threat: we will prove it,' the senior Taliban commander Mullah Dadullah told the Reuters news agency via satellite phone, adding that militants would be armed with shipments of new guns.

'The Taliban's war preparations are going on in caves and in mountains. Our 6,000 fighters are ready for attacks on foreign troops after the change in weather and as it becomes warmer,' he said."