At least 14 Taliban, 3 soldiers killed in Afghan clashes (1st Lead)

Jul 17, 2007, 11:35 GMT

Kabul - Afghan-NATO forces killed or wounded 16 Taliban militants in the southern region Tuesday while three army soldiers were killed in a roadside bomb in the same region, officials said.

The 16 militants were killed or wounded in Zherai district of the southern province of Kandahar in a fight with Afghan and NATO forces on Tuesday morning, Sayed Agha Saqib, the provincial police chief, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

'The joint Afghan and NATO forces started an operation in Zherai district today at 5 am which continued until midday and in total 16 Taliban fighters were killed and wounded,' Saqib said, adding that six dead bodies were left on the battlefield, including the Taliban's district level commander.

He said that the operation came a day after eight militants were killed in a fight with Afghan and NATO forces on Monday after the militants ambushed a joint patrol of the forces in the same Zherai district. The bodies of the militants were also left behind in the area.

Saqib said that there were no casualties on the side of the joint forces.

In neighboring Helmand province, three Afghan army soldiers were killed and one other wounded when their ranger military vehicle was blown up by a newly planted roadside mine in Gerishk district of the province, Mohammad Hussain Andiwal, provincial police chief, told dpa.

In another clash near the Pakistani border several Taliban militants were killed, while ten Afghan army soldiers were wounded when a heavy artillery shell exploded near them on Monday, defence ministry said in a statement.

The militants were killed when Afghan army soldiers attacked their positions in the Mangoti area of Bermal district of Paktika province near the Pakistani border, the statement said.

After the clash the army found the body of a Pakistani militant, the statement said, adding that several dead and wounded militants were taken away by their comrades as they retreated.

Ten Afghan army soldiers were also wounded during the operation when an artillery shell exploded near them, and they were taken to a military hospital for treatment, it added.

In a separate incident, Afghan and US-led coalition forces arrested five suspected militants in Deh Bala district of eastern Nangarhar province on Tuesday morning, the US military said in a statement.

'Credible intelligence led coalition forces to compounds suspected of housing militants with ties to the al-Qaeda network,' the statement said, adding, 'Magazines, weapons, grenades and chest racks were found during a search of the compounds.'

No shots were fired, and there were no civilian injuries or deaths, it added.

More than 3,300 people, mostly insurgents, but including hundreds of Afghan and international soldiers, have been killed in clashes since the spring in Afghanistan.