Up to 21 suspected Taliban were killed in a series of operations by Afghan and international forces in Afghanistan, officials said on Saturday.In a raid against Taliban in Ghazni, United States-led troops killed two Taliban on Friday, the force said, although local government claimed six had died. The men were killed after they were seen surrounding the force as they searched a compound for a Taliban leader responsible for roadside bomb attacks, the force said in a statement.
On Saturday, dozens of villagers carrying the corpses of two men marched to the governor's house, claiming the casualties they were carrying were civilians, local government spokesman Ismail Jahangir said. "The coalition forces, without discussing with us, conducted an operation against Taliban in Ander district. We've no idea who the casualties were. We're investigating to find out whether they were Taliban or civilians," he said. "Villagers are saying that two civilians were killed in that operation," the spokesman said.
In a separate incident the force killed three Taliban in the eastern province of Kunar, it said. A dozen other Taliban including two commanders were killed in separate raids by Afghan intelligence agents and the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in the southern province of Kandahar, an official said. The raids -- on Thursday and Friday -- on the Taliban hideouts in the province's troubled Zhari district were based on intelligence, the Afghan spy agency's chief in Kandahar, Abdul Qayoum Katawazi, said.