Over 80 Taliban fighters killed in latest Afghan clashes (Roundup)

Sep 1, 2007, 14:03 GMT

Kabul - Afghan and coalition forces killed more than 80 Taliban insurgents in the latest firefights and detained over a dozen more in eastern and southern Afghanistan, officials said on Saturday.

Afghan police and coalition forces battled with suspected insurgents in Naw Abad area in Deh Yak district of southern Ghazni province on Friday, killing 18 rebels.

Another six were arrested, Alishah Ahmadzai provincial police chief of the province told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

'Five of the Taliban bodies are still in the battlefield,' said Ahmadzai, adding that the operation started after the combined forces had received intelligence regarding the presence of 'enemy forces' in the area, and that these planned to attack security check posts.

Another six armed militants were arrested by the joint forces, while weapons and motorcycles were also seized, he added.

In eastern Afghanistan, US-led coalition air forces destroyed three compounds in the Pitigal Valley of Kamdish district of Nuristan province, some six kilometres from Pakistani border on Friday night, killing over 20 Taliban fighters, US military said in a statement.

One coalition soldier was wounded, while the combined Afghan and international forces detained 11 more suspected insurgents during the search operation in the area, it said.

'The same intelligence showed insurgent leaders have taken refuge in the villages of Pitigal, Shetigal, and Destigal as they travel between Afghanistan and Pakistan,' the statement said.

'The remoteness of the villages have allowed the extremists to stage attacks on ANSF (Afghan National Security Force) and Coalition forces in lower valleys and retreat to their sanctuary,' according to the US military.

In other separate incidents, Afghan and US-led coalition forces killed over two dozen insurgents in Musa Qalah district of southern Helmand province on Friday and Saturday, US military said in a statement.

Seven insurgents were killed on Saturday after the militants attacked a NATO-led convoy near Musa Qalah Wadi with small-arms, machine gun and rocket-propelled grenade fire from several buildings connected by an extensive trench system, the statement said.

The combined forces returned the fire and 'Coalition aircraft performed precision airstrikes on the compounds, which were positively confirmed as enemy positions. Seven Taliban insurgents were killed during the fighting.'

Meanwhile, in the fighting that took place on Friday in Regay area of Musa Qalah district up two dozen Taliban rebels were killed.

The clash began after a group of rebels attacked a combat patrol of the combined forces with mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire from multiple compounds located inside of populated areas in northwestern Regay, it said.

The Afghan forces fought back and called in close air support, it said, adding, 'In the fight that ensued, almost two dozen insurgents were killed.'

Musa Qalah district, which has been under the control of Taliban for the past several months, has seen a number of clashes in the past one week.

No Afghan, coalition or civilians were reported injured or killed during the fighting, it added.

Ten other suspected insurgents were killed in Khas Uruzgan district of southern Uruzgan province on Thursday, when a joint patrol of Afghan army and coalition forces came under attack by the rebels, the defence ministry said in a statement.

A spokesman for NATO-led forces in southern Kandahar also said that their forces along with Afghan soldiers clashed with a large group of suspected Taliban in Ghondi Ghar area of Zherai district on Saturday morning.

Several Taliban fighters were killed during the fighting that was still ongoing, the spokesman said, but could not give an exact number of their death toll.

Since spring, more than 4,200 people - mostly Taliban-led insurgents - have been killed in fighting in Afghanistan.