Taliban summer attacks down on last year: Petraeus

KABUL: Insurgent attacks against foreign and Afghan forces in Afghanistan are down this summer, defying projections by intelligence analysts, General David Petraeus said.

The top commander in Afghanistan said attacks were down by "a few percent" for May and June, the beginning of the traditional annual fighting season, although he said the number of homemade bomb explosions had risen. "June saw fewer insurgent attacks than last June and that's quite significant and May was quite the same.

"So you have the first two months of comparison with the previous year is actually a reduction. July is trending that way. That is very significant," he told reporters in the Afghan capital Saturday.

Intelligence analysts had predicted a rise in insurgent attacks of 18 to 30 percent on last year, Petraeus said, while he cautioned that it was too early to declare the insurgency had been significantly hit.

Petraeus made his comments to reporters travelling with new US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who was making his first visit to the country since taking up his new post on July 1

Petraeus is due to step down as the top commander in Afghanistan in mid-July and take over Panetta's old position of CIA director in September.