KABUL: Security forces killed 26 Taliban rebels and captured 28 others in separate operations across Afghanistan as NATO pushed on with a major operation in the south, officials said Tuesday. The latest violence came as the top British general in charge of NATO forces in Afghanistan said that his men were defeating the ousted Islamist regime that is now waging a bitter insurgency.Sixteen Taliban fighters were killed in two gun battles with Afghan troops and police Tuesday in restive Ghazni province, south of Kabul, local government spokesman Abdul Ali Fakuri told AFP. He added that an Afghan soldier had been killed and two policemen had also been wounded. Three Taliban fighters were killed late Monday in a village in southern Kandahar province, where the Taliban originated and which forms the area that has seen much of this year’s violence, said provincial governor Asadullah Khalid adding, “The Taliban entered Afghanistan from Pakistan. Fighting erupted and three Taliban were killed.”
NATO forces say a major offensive codenamed Operation Medusa in KandaharÂ’s Panjwayi and Zhari districts has resulted in the death of over 500 rebels since September 2. However, the Taliban have rejected the figure.