Thursday, November 10, 2011

More than 60 Taliban fighters have been killed in an attack on a Nato outpost

More than 60 Taliban fighters have been killed in an attack on a Nato outpost in Afghanistan's eastern province of Paktika, local officials say.

Nato confirmed aircraft and ground forces had repelled Tuesday's attack on the Bermal outpost but it could not give any specific casualty details.
The local officials said there were no coalition or civilian casualties.
Separately an Afghan soldier seriously injured three Australian troops after firing on them in Uruzgan province.
Nato is gradually handing security over to Afghans ahead of a full combat pullout by the end of 2014.



'Blind eye'

    
Mokhlis Afghan, a spokesman for the governor of Paktika, told the BBC: "Between 60 and 70 insurgents attacked a joint Nato-Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) base in Bermal district's Margha area on the border with the Durand line.
"The insurgents were armed with heavy and light weapons. In retaliation, ANSF launched their own attack. After a fierce gun battle and air support from Nato, all of the insurgents were killed.
"There were no civilian, Nato or ANSF casualties.''
Spokesman for the Nato-led Isaf force, Sgt Christopher DeWitt, confirmed the attack and that air support had been used.

Two senior Afghan intelligence officials told the BBC the attack was "very close to Pakistan", adding: "Sixty insurgents carrying so many weapons could have not crossed from Pakistan without the help of Pakistani security forces - it is either that or they turned a blind eye."
Pakistan says it does all it can to halt insurgent activity.
A local police official in Bermal also told the BBC: ''We know for sure that there are foreign fighters among those killed because we listened to their radio chatter, there were Arabic, Chechen, Uzbek and Urdu speakers."
He said the attack was "carried out by the Haqqani network to take revenge for several recent operations, which resulted in the killing and capture of their commanders and fighters."
US and Afghan officials blame the Haqqani network, which is affiliated to the Taliban, for a series of attacks in Kabul and other areas of Afghanistan.


read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-15650808

Afghanistan – touch down in flight




Afghanistan – touch down in flight from Augustin Pictures on Vimeo.
As each of us has his own impression of Afghanistan that is predominantly marked with pictures of foreign forces, explosions and terror, we were privileged to have access to capture daily life and portrait some people of Afghanistan.

We hope the pictures you know will merge with the pictures you see and will enrich your view on the country in the Hindu Kush.

locations:
Kabul and Mazar-e Sharif

We wanted to go to other places as well but there were several incidents and security was too bad. Just one day after shooting at the blue mosque in Mazar-e Sharif a mob started from the very same place storming the UN building.

I have lived from 2006-2008 in Kabul doing my civil service for a humanitarian aid organization. This March I had the chance to go back with my fiancé to show her the place I love and to capture the beauty of this country with our cameras.

At the same time I made this as a tribute to a dear friend, who was shot in the streets of Kabul. Gayle inspired me in her love and dedication for the Afghans.

After a full summer with other work we had now the chance to do the editing.

Lisa-Maria Puy who composed the music for us was wonderful to work with. We met her on Zanzibar island and back in Germany she composed this wonderful soundtrack within just 3 days (and nights). She studied music at HfM Detmold in Germany and is a very talented artist and we hope to work with her again.
You can contact her on: puy-music[at]gmx.de

Last week the clip got published in the iPad edition of Süddeutsche-Zeitung Magazin.

I hope you enjoy and we are happy for your honest feedback.

Lukas and Salome Augustin

Equipment used:
Canon 5D Mark II
Canon 7D
Canon 24-105mm L IS 4f
Canon 16-35mm L
Canon 50mm 1.4f
Canon 85mm 1.8f
Glidetrack HD
Handgrip Nighthawk and D|Focus V3 (shoulder mount)
Zoom H1
2x Rode Videomic Pro
Manfrotto 501 HD and 701 HDV
LCW ND Filter Fader MK II

We edited and colour graded the entire clip on Final Cut Pro X

website:
www.lukasaugustin.de

more information and production photos:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Augustin-Pictures/161244407238332

© by Lukas and Salome Augustin

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