Taliban pair die in gunbattle
US forces battled Taliban suspects in a forbidding mountain range in southern Afghanistan, killing two fighters and arresting two others.
International peacekeepers also announced that security forces had arrested 17 people in the capital in a sweep against suspects allegedly trying to plant a bomb.
Four people were arrested in the first phase of the operation – three near Kabul stadium and a fourth about half-a-mile away, in front of the Finance Ministry. Explosives experts found three detonators in the vest of the last suspect and later found a fuse and high explosives.
Some 13 others were taken into custody in a raid on a home in the capital believed to belong to the leader of a 10-man terrorist cell.
The fighting involving US forces was in the Tangi mountains of Zabul province, said provincial Governor Khial Mohammed. US forces had received a tip that an unspecified number of Taliban fighters were hiding there, he said. There were no American casualties in the gunbattle, which lasted four hours.
Five AK-47 rifles and one rocket launcher were seized during the operation, Mohammed said. It was not clear whether any of those killed or captured were senior Taliban members.
