US military: 136 Taliban killed in western Afghan clashes (Roundup)

Apr 30, 2007, 12:23 GMT

Kabul - Two weekend clashes between suspected Taliban fighters and forces of the Afghan police and US-led coalition left 136 militants dead in western Afghanistan, the US military said Monday.

A US soldier was also killed in the fighting in Herat province, the US military said in a statement.

The Afghan National Police and coalition forces killed 87 suspected militants Sunday during 14 hours of fighting that included aerial bombardment after a reconnaissance patrol located the militants' position 37 miles south of the Shindand district, the statement said.

After initiating the attack with mortars, small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades, the coalition called in aircraft that dropped bombs that destroyed at least seven Taliban positions, the statement said.

On Friday, 49 other suspected Taliban were killed by small-arms fire and airstrikes when a group of about 70 militants attacked an Afghan and coalition patrol, also in the Zerkoh Valley, it added.

The dead included two local Taliban leaders, it said, adding that the US soldier was killed during Friday's engagement.

Also in Shindand district, two Afghan army soldiers were killed and wounded when their vehicle was struck by a newly-planted mine on Sunday, the Defence Ministry said in a statement.

In eastern Afghanistan, Afghan and coalition forces killed five militants, including a rebel commander with ties to at least one international terrorist leader, the US military said.

The Afghan Army, police and coalition forces drove the militants into caves in the Pech area of Kunar province on April 22, a statement said, adding that coalition aircraft subsequently destroyed the insurgents' position, killing all five.

The militant leader was identified as Habib Jan and was accused by the US military of being involved in roadside bombings, assassinations and intimidation efforts throughout the region.

'Coalition forces recovered a mortar system, rocket launchers, small arms, grenades, batteries, ballistic goggles and documents suggesting coordination with at least one international terror leader in the aftermath of the operation,' the statement said.

In the southern province of Helmand, where the Taliban is most active, thousands of foreign and government troops advanced Monday on Taliban positions, but the military rejected reports that a major new operation was under way.

Around 1,000 British, 600 US and 1,000 Afghan soldiers as well as smaller contingents from the Netherlands, Denmark, Estonia and Canada launched what was widely referred to by media as Operation Silicon.

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said British forces were leading a 'tactical manoeuvre' against militants within the ongoing Operation Achilles, which was launched last month.

The push supported by aircraft focused on the area around the towns of Sangin and Gerishk, where several enemy positions were destroyed within a few hours, said Lieutenant Colonel Stefan Grenier, spokesman for ISAF's southern forces.

Achilles, which began on March 6, was billed as 'the largest multinational combined operation' and involves 4,500 ISAF troops and 1,000 more Afghan soldiers.

The US military said Monday that Afghan and coalition forces have killed about 150 suspected Taliban and foreign fighters since the recapturing of the Sangin district three weeks ago from the militants.

More than 1,100 people, mostly insurgents, have been killed since the beginning of this year in Afghanistan, where the fighting that had once been primarily confined to the turbulent south has begun to spread to the east and west and occasionally to the north.

Meanwhile, a suicide attack against a US security company in southern Afghanistan killed an Afghan employee while an Afghan driver working for a German aid organization was killed in the north, officials said Monday.

A suicide attacker riding a motorcycle packed with explosives detonated himself Monday near a convoy of the security contractor in the Zherai district of Kandahar province, killing himself and the Afghan employee while three others in the convoy were wounded, said Esmatullah Alizai, provincial police chief. The attack took place on a highway between Kandahar City and Herat province.

A German aid group reported the killing of one of its Afghan employees in Kunduz province nearly eight weeks after one of its German workers was also killed.

Gunmen stopped one of two trucks belonging to Deutsche Welthungerhilfe (German Agro Action) Sunday night, the aid group said. The driver was forced out of the truck and shot five times and the truck set on fire, said Joachim Boenisch, project manager for Welthungerhilfe in Kunduz. The second truck did not stop, he said.

Local police said Monday that they had detained four men in connection with the case.

Welthungerhilfe spokesman Ralph Dickerhof said from Bonn, Germany, that the aid group would suspend its operations in Kunduz for a week as it re-evaluates the security situation.

On March 8, Welthungerhilfe engineer Dieter Ruebling was also pulled from a truck by gunmen in the northern province of Sar-e-Pul while he was inspecting construction sites and shot to death. The perpetrators, however, let his Afghan colleagues go.