New Delhi__ Afghan guerrillas killed some 150 Soviet soldiers in an attack on the major Soviet garrison north of Kabul, a Western diplomat said today.
“Guerrillas attacked a large garrison at Bagram and approximately 150 Soviet soliders were killed,’ the diplomat said, quoting guerrilla sources. “Their bodies were shipped to the U.S.S.R. directly from the Bagram air base.”
The Soviet backed Afghan regime has banned Western reporters from covering the five-year conflict; the Indian government has also banned reporters from entering Punjab for similar reasons.
Diplomatic sources previously reported that rebels attacked the Bagram air base Jan. 17, destroying 12 helicopters.
In another guerrilla assault Jan. 22, a bomb exploded in an outpatient clinic adjacent to a Soviet Hospital in Kabul, killing four Afghans, including three doctors, a diplomat said.
“The motive was unclear, but the bomb may have been intended for the Soviet hospital itself,’ one diplomat said.
Soviet troop movements were reported in eastern Afghanistan near the Pakistan border and in the Panjshir Valley northeast of Kabul, where Soviet troops have long been trying to oust rebel forces led by Massoud Ahmad shah.
Diplomatic and rebel sources have been reporting a sudden buildup of Soviet forces along the Pakistan border during the past month.
“In the Panjshir, there is evidence the Soviets may launch an offensive in parts of the valley,” one diplomat said.
The Soviets have launched seven major offensives in the strategic valley, a mountainous region where guerrillas have had success in attacking Soviet supply convoys from the Soviet Union.
The occupation of Afghanistan by 115,000 Soviet troops is in its sixth year.
Article extracted from this publication >> February 1, 1985
