Forty Taliban were killed in air strikes to take back a district of Afghanistan captured by Islamist rebels while a British soldier was killed in a separate clash, officials said Friday.Afghan and NATO-led ground forces supported by international military air support launched an offensive on Wednesday to retake Ajristan, 200 kilometres (124 miles) southwest of Kabul, after rebels stormed in Monday. "Over 40 Taliban fighters were killed and 30 were wounded in an overnight coalition air strike in Ajristan district," Ghazni province spokesman Ismail Jahangir told AFP as the operation continued Friday for a third day.
The district governor, who fled after the Taliban captured the district, confirmed the air strike casualties and said two civilians also died. "On top of 40 Taliban killed and 30 wounded, we have information that two civilians were also killed in the bombing," Rad Mohammad Waziri told AFP. International forces could not immediately confirm the air strike.
Fifteen militants were killed on the first day of the operation by joint Afghan and international forces, Jahangir said earlier.
Ajristan was also captured by Taliban insurgents in October last year and was retaken the following day, when about 300 security forces moved into the small district centre. Taliban have captured several mainly remote districts in the past but have not been able to hold most of them for long, although there are a handful in southern Helmand province that security forces admit are in rebel control.
A British army dog handler and his explosives sniffer dog were killed Thursday in Helmand when they came under fire while on patrol, the Ministry of Defence in London said. Six other soldiers were also injured, although not seriously.
Meanwhile, in the western province of Farah, a roadside bomb apparently intended to hit Afghan or NATO troops blew up a civilian vehicle and killed three people, said Akramudin Yawar, police commander for western Afghanistan. He blamed the attack on the Taliban.