Coalition troops kill 80 Taliban fighters
More than 80 Taliban militants have been killed in a series of attacks this week by Afghan and coalition forces, the military said.
In one case, insurgents used Afghan civilians as shields to escape the onslaught, a statement from the military claimed.
Coalition troops fought a five-hour gun battle with more than 40 extremists near Tirin Kot in the southern Uruzgan province, the statement said.
Most of the militants, firing from hidden positions in an orchard and compound were believed to have been killed.
In a separate assault, Afghan and coalition forces fought a large group of militants in the Zari-Dasht district of Kandahar province, killing about 25 in three hours of fighting.
Local Afghan commander Gen Rahmatullah Roufi confirmed the two incidents. He said three coalition troops were slightly injured.
Taliban fighters fired rockets near coalition forces in Kandahar’s Panjwayi district, another military official said. Four insurgents were killed.
The coalition also said that another 17 insurgents had been killed when an enemy bunker was destroyed in Uruzgan province earlier in the week.
Fighters intercepted coalition forces, setting up an ambush site near Tirin Kot, a military statement said.
Coalition forces have launched a massive offensive against Taliban forces in a bid to stop a wave of suicide attacks and ambushes in the past few months.
More than 10,000 Afghan, British, Canadian and US troops are deployed across Kandahar, Helmand, Uruzgan and Zabul provinces – areas where Taliban forces have regrouped and gained strength and sympathy.
About 159 insurgents have been killed since Operation Mountain Thrust got under way earlier this month, according to the Afghan Defence Ministry.
Afghanistan is in the grip of its deadliest violence since the Taliban was ousted in 2001. President Hamid Karzai has decried the intense violence in the south, which since May has left more than 600 people dead, mostly militants.
