700 Taliban trapped by Nato offensive
Nato and Afghan forces used artillery and air strikes overnight to keep up pressure on an estimated 700 Taliban trapped by an offensive that the alliance claims has killed at least 200 militants in southern Afghanistan, Nato said today.
Meanwhile, Nato leaders including Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and top commander US Gen. James Jones were in Afghanistan for talks with Afghan officials on a security and development accord and to assess progress in the alliance’s mission to stabilise the volatile south.
Nato’s Operation Medusa, launched on Saturday to flush out militants from a stronghold near the main southern city of Kandahar, has sparked some of the most intense fighting since the fall of the Taliban regime nearly five years ago.
Nato claims more than 200 Taliban have died – a figure strongly disputed by a top militant commander.
Five Canadian soldiers have also been killed, one in a friendly fire by a US warplane yesterday.
The Afghan Defence Ministry also said today that 200 militants had died since Saturday – increasing its previously reported toll of 89.
