Afghanistan timeline May 2004
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May 29, 2004
- Four U.S. soldiers were killed when their Humvee hit a landmine in the Sorie district of Zabul province, Afghanistan. Three U.S. soldiers were wounded in the blast.
- In Helmand province, Afghanistan, four Afghan National Army soldiers and one rebel died in a clash.
- In Afghanistan, rebels in vehicles swept into Musa Qala and opened fire on the government office with assault rifles and heavy machine-guns. Four of the 30 soldiers defending the compound were killed and eight others wounded. One rebel was also killed and four were captured.
May 28, 2004
- A remote-controlled explosive wounded five Afghan soldiers on a road in the Sozyan area of Uruzgan province, Afghanistan. Three suspects were later detained.
May 26, 2004
- Interim Afghan president Hamid Karzai enacted an election law that requires both presidential and parliamentary elections to be held through free, general, secret and direct voting. To win the race, a presidential candidate needs at least 50 percent of the vote. A presidential candidate is required to gather 10,000 voters backing the bid.
- Three children were killed by a recently planted roadside bomb in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
May 25, 2004
- Pakistani and U.S. military officials met to discuss mechanism to stop recent military incursions from Afghanistan by U.S. forces hunting suspected al-Qaeda and Taliban fugitives in the border region.
- U.S. planes helped Afghan National Army forces attack suspected Taliban forces in the mountains of the Arghistan district in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, killing some 20 suspected insurgents at a recently discovered camp. Three of his Afghan soldiers were injured.
- In Paris, France, Frenchmen David Courtailler and Ahmed Laidouni and Algerian Mohamed Baadache were convicted of organizing networks that sent militants to Afghan camps for training in terrorism.
May 23, 2004
- In Kabul, Afghanistan, a rocket-propelled grenade killed a Norwegian ISAF peacekeeper and injured another as a four-vehicle convoy was driving back from patrol.
- Two people were killed in a rocket attack near Tirin Kot in Uruzgan province, Afghanistan. Police chief Rozi Khan said the victims were civilians; police chief Abdul Rahim Khan said the victims were of the Afghan National Army.
May 22, 2004
- The U.S. military named Brig. Gen. Charles Jacoby, deputy operational commander at the Bagram Air Base, to carry out a review of U.S. secretive Afghan. Jacoby was to carry out a top-to-bottom review and deliver a report by mid-June.
- Local Pakistani newspapers reported an incursion by U.S. troops from Afghanistan into Pakistan.
- About 20 rebels on motorcycles killed an Afghan National Army soldier in an attack on troops guarding a shipment of tractors and generators as it moved toward Waza Khwa in Paktika province, Afghanistan.
- Afghanistan's first commercial television channel went on air in Kabul, funded by Ahmed Shah Afghanzai.
May 21, 2004
- In Tani village, Khost province, Afghanistan, three civilians were killed and two wounded in a pre-dawn attack by U.S. helicopter gunships. U.S. forces claimed they had been fired on; villagers at the scene said no U.S. patrol had been fired on.
May 20, 2004
- A remote-controlled bomb destroyed a vehicle carrying election workers through the Jaji Maydan district of Khost province, Afghanistan, injuring at least four people.
- A homemade bomb was uncovered in a girl's school being used as a voter registration center in Puli Alam, Afghanistan.
- U.S. troops deployed in Afghanistan crossed into Pakistan's tribal.
May 19, 2004
- Between Shindand and Farah, Afghanistan, rebels ambushed a police car, and killed two officers returning home from escorting U.N. staff members.
May 18, 2004
- In Doha, Qatar, an international two-day forum opened to discuss financial, technical and personnel-related aid to Afghan police. Representatives of governmental organizations from over 20 countries were in attendance.
- In Seoul, South Korea, the Korea Resources Corporation signed a memorandum of understanding with Afghanistan on cooperation in developing mineral resources.
- Former King of Afghanistan Mohammad Zahir Shah was brought to a hospital in the United Arab Emirates because of nose bleeding caused by heat. He was reported in stable condition.
May 17, 2004
- In Islamabad, Pakistan, finance ministers of Pakistan and Afghanistan and the deputy secretary of the United States Department of Treasury John B. Taylor met to review economic developments in the region.
- In Farah, Afghanistan, night letters were scattered warning people not to register to vote "or they will be punished."
May 15, 2004
- Near Girishk in Helmand province, Afghanistan, rebels attacked a U.S.-led coalition combat patrol, killing one U.S. soldier (Chief Warrant Officer Bruce E. Price) and wounding two others. Two men were detained; they were allegedly brothers of Mullah Abdul Ghafoor.
- In Helmand province, Afghanistan, U.S. forces defused a bomb at a bridge.
- In the Panjwayi district of Kandahar province, Afghanistan, local police seized 80 AK-47s smuggled in an oil transport truck. Two of the arrested men were alleged to be brothers of Mullah Shirien.
May 12, 2004
- In Kabul, a 17-year-old Afghan man was killed and another injured when their motorcycle with three people aboard struck a trailer towed by a Canadian army truck. The motorcycle attempted to pass a convoy of Canadian military vehicles headed for the airport.
- U.S. troops killed five suspected Taliban rebels and arrested five more during a clash the Paj Kotal mountain pass region of Kandahar province, Afghanistan.
May 11, 2004
- In Kabul, Afghanistan, an ISAF peacekeeper was slightly injured by a rocket fired into the ISAF main base.
May 10, 2004
- Interim Afghan president Hamid Karzai visited Herat to negotiated with Ismail Khan regarding disarmament. Karzai traveled via a U.S. C-130 military transport plane and was guarded by U.S. bodyguards.
- Two Afghan National Army soldiers were killed by rebels on a highway near Shahjoy in Zabul province, Afghanistan.
- An Afghan National Army vehicle was ambushed near Qalat, Afghanistan. Its driver was shot and wounded.
May 9, 2004
- Two foreigners (about 30 years old and wearing Afghan clothes) were found dead in a park in west Kabul, Afghanistan. One had been beaten with bricks or stones; the other had been strangled. One of the foreigners was carrying a Swiss passport.
May 8, 2004
- Four Afghan election staff workers survived the explosion of their Jeep near Grabawa, Nangarhar province. Their driver was slightly injured.
May 7, 2004
- Six Afghan National Army soldiers were wounded and two were killed in an attack by Taliban forces on a district building in Shah Wali Kot, just north of Kandahar, Afghanistan.
- In Moscow, Russia, Afghan foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah met with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian National Security Council Secretary Igor Ivanov to discuss key issues, including the settlement of Afghanistan's Soviet-era debt and the provision of regional security.
- In Zabul province, Afghanistan, U.S. forces captured at least 25 militants, including a Taliban commander, Mullah Rozi Khan.
May 5, 2004
- The U.S. sent 2,000 Marines to the area around Tirin Kot, 250 miles southwest of Kabul, Afghanistan.
- Sixty prisoners as a first wave of suspected Taliban prisoners were moved from Sheberghan prison to the Pul-e-Charkhi jail outside Kabul, Afghanistan. Many of them were suffering from tuberculosis. About 900 prisoners staged a riot in the prison a week earlier, protesting their conditions. They were being held without scheduled trials.
- Sixty members of the Hawaii Army National Guard's 193rd Aviation left for Afghanistan to replace U.S. soldiers from their unit who were in Kandahar since August, 2003.
- Two British contractors working for Global Risk Strategies and their Afghan driver were killed by members of the Taliban in an attack in the Mandol district of Nuristan region, 200km east of the capital Kabul, Afghanistan. The contractors were assisting the United Nation prepare for the upcoming elections.
- U.S. troops searched houses in Pakistani territory, against the wishes of Pakistan.
May 3, 2004
- Ten Afghan National Army soldiers were found dead in southern Afghanistan after being abducted in two rebel raids. Five soldiers were found dead on a mountainside in Niamashien district of Kandahar province; five soldiers were found dead in the Sur Ghogan area.
May 2, 2004
- About 60 U.S. troops in Afghanistan strayed into Pakistan and searched the village of Alwara Mandi in a night time operation. The incursion was accidental and lasted only 25 minutes.