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60 Tallibunnies Terminated
Afghan police and foreign forces killed around 60 suspected Taliban fighters, many in the region where the insurgents recently released a group of South Korean church workers they had been holding, authorities said Saturday. In southern Helmand province on Friday, a combined police and U.S.-led coalition patrol came under attack with mortar, rocket-propelled grenade and small-arms fire. In the fight that ensued, "almost two dozen" insurgents were killed, the coalition said in a statement Saturday. No Afghan or coalition soldiers, or civilians, were killed, the statement said. The fighting took place in Musa Qala district, parts of which have been under the control of Taliban militants for several months. U.S.-led troops and Afghan security forces also raided compounds late Friday in three villages in the remote Pitigal Valley border region, where intelligence showed that top militant leaders take refuge as they travel between Pakistan and Afghanistan. More than 20 insurgents were killed and 11 others were detained, while officers also discovered a bomb-making factory, the U.S.-led coalition said in a statement. It was not possible to independently verify the death tolls in the three incidents because travel in the areas is extremely dangerous. Taliban commanders were not available for comment. The Taliban are leading an increasingly bloody campaign against the country's Western-backed government. More than 4,200 people most of them insurgents have been killed this year alone, according to an Associated Press count. Posted by: Bobby 2007-09-01 |
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