Soviet losses heavy

Press, 5 August 1980, Page 8

Soviet losses heavy

NZPA-Reute-r New Delhi Soviet , forces, reeling from heavy casualties,, had taken command of the

Ghazni garrison, south of Kabul after most of the 5000 Afghan troops there deserted or joined the rebels, it was reported from New: Delhi yesterday.'- • ' ... With the end in sight of the bloody battle at Ghazni, Soviet forces launched a huge ground and air offensive against the rebels at Tangi Wardak, 38km west of the. capital, said the report from a Kabul resident who in the past has been accurate.

About 200 Soviets and 300 insurgents had been killed in the continuing battle of Tangi Wardak, the informant said, quoting witnesses reaching Kabul. The Soviets poured about 2000 troops and 400 tanks and armoured vehicles against an insurgent force which earlier seized an Afghan Army base at Tangi Wardak, killed 15 political officers and captured the soldiers and their arms, the report said. The battles at Ghazni, followed by those at Tangi Wardak, were described as the biggest encounters

i fought by the. Soviets near ; Kabul since 80,000 to 100,1 000 Soviet troops entered J Afghanistan last December.

Travellers to India from Afghanistan have been reporting daily Soviet MiG jets and helicopter gunships roarng off to Ghazni and Wardak provinces and returning later to Kabul Airport with their rockets fired. Yesterday’s report said gunships and MiGs .had been taking off from Kabul at two-minute intervals and that Russian wounded and dead were arriving at Kabul Airport for transfer to the Soviet Union.

Rebels and defected troops used captured anti-aircraft and anti-tank weapons to knock out at least 12 MiGs and helicopters and several tanks, the report said. Ghazni was the headquarters of the 14th Armoured Division, one of the strongest units of the desertionweakened Afghanistan Army, The reported rebellion of 90 per cent of the garrison force, was regarded by analysts as a serious blow to the pro-Soviet Government of President Babrak Karmal.

Mr Karmal’s efforts to replace the Ghazni commander with a member of his own Parchamite faction of the ruling Marxist Party is reported to have triggered the mutiny on July 24 and prompted Soviet forces to surround the area. Most army political officers belong to the rival Khalq faction.

The report from Kabul said the battle of Ghazni was ending with the Russians taking command of the garrison and supported by fresh Afghan troops from Kabul. Soviet forces had been called to surround other Afghan military bases after reported purges and arrests of Khalqi officers, including those at Pul-I-Charki, Qargha and Reshokhor in the Kabul region. The Pakistan Foreign Ministry has denied a report that the Foreign Minister (Mr Agha Shahi) discussed with the American Secretary of State (Mr Edmund Muskie) the supply of American arms to Afghan rebels.

A Ministry spokesman said the report, broadcast by Moscow and Kabul radios, was a lie.