71 Taliban killed in fierce clashes
Afghan forces aided by NATO aircraft and artillery killed 71 suspected Taliban militants in running battles in southern Afghanistan that also left five Afghan troops dead in one of the bloodiest clashes since the 2001 US-led invasion.
The insurgents were killed in a series of clashes which started on Saturday and spilled into this morning following a militant attack in Panjwayi district of southern Kandahar province, said Niaz Mohammad Sarhadi, the district chief.
A purported Taliban spokesman said 12 insurgents were killed and eight were wounded.
Afghanistan’s southern provinces are bearing the brunt of the worst bout of violence to have rocked the country since the fall of the Taliban regime in the US-led invasion in late 2001, as insurgents try to undermine the authority of President Hamid Karzai and his government.
NATO troops used artillery and aircraft to inflict “heavy casualties against Taliban fighters,” an alliance statement said.
“It was a sizeable engagement,” said Toby Jackman, a NATO force spokesman. He called the clash a part of the ongoing operation “to extend security” in the main Kabul-Kandahar highway.
The bodies of the dead militants were found in three locations, scattered through orchards alongside their weapons, Sarhadi said.
“The police are still searching for the dead bodies of Taliban,” Sarhadi said.
Four police and one Afghan soldier were also killed in the clash, officials said. Three police and five soldiers were wounded, they said.
Three other officers were missing, said a police officer.
But a purported Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousaf Ahmadi, said the insurgents had killed scores of police and damaged 10 of their vehicles during the clash.
He said that 12 militants were killed and eight wounded in the clash after militants attacked the police convoy late on Saturday.
A NATO air strike followed the ambush, killing and wounding the militants, Ahmadi said.
