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50 Taliban killed in US-Afghan raid
 Fighting between Taliban militants and US and Afghan forces killed about 50 suspected militants and two Afghan soldiers, in the deadliest clashes in weeks ahead of crucial legislative elections, a provincial governor said on Tuesday. The fighting late Monday in Uruzgan provinceâs Dihrawud district came during an offensive against a militant camp, which had been used as a base for attacks in neighbouring areas, Gov Jan Mohammed Khan said. About 25 suspected insurgents were captured, he said, adding that Afghan forces were still finding the bodies of militants on Tuesday. An American military spokeswoman said she had no details. But a US military statement on Monday said that heavy fighting in the area had killed one American service member, an Afghan soldier and 11 militants. Three US troops and one Afghan soldier were also wounded, it said. The statement said American fighter jets and attack helicopters responded to a militant attack on a patrol that sparked the gunbattle. Meanwhile, in fighting elsewhere, police arrested 10 suspected Taliban insurgents after clashes in southeastern Zabul province, said Ali Khail, a spokesman for the provincial governor. In neighboring Kandahar province, Taliban guerrillas attacked an Afghan patrol Monday night, triggering a gunbattle that left an Afghan soldier dead and a police officer badly wounded, said deputy district chief Haji Lala Khan. The latest fighting comes three days after the US military operational commander in Afghanistan, Maj-Gen Jason Kamiya, said in an interview that fighting in recent months had devastated the ranks of the Taliban. More than 800 people have been killed in a major upsurge in violence since March and US and Afghan officials have warned that it may threaten the parliamentary elections on Sept. 18. Posted by: Fred 2005-07-27 |
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