6 NATO Soldiers, 25 Afghanis Killed in Fierce Fighting in Afghanistan

Afghan, NATO forces launch purge plan Campaign to remove Taliban from villages leaves 23 Afghanis  dead

By Agence France Presse (AFP) Thursday, June 19, 2008

Nasrat Shoaib

Agence France Presse

ARGHANDAB, Afghanistan:

Afghani and NATO troops backed by attack helicopters killed 23 Taliban fighters on Wednesday in a huge "clean-up" operation to drive out (Taliban fighters) entrenched in villages near Kandahar. Two Afghani troops also died in the offensive in southern Arghandab district, which was launched after a burst of insurgent activity including a mass Taliban jailbreak in Kandahar that embarrassed US-allied President Hamid Karzai.

The operation began as Britain announced the deaths elsewhere of four soldiers, one of them reportedly the first British female casualty in Afghanistan, while two more NATO soldiers were killed in another incident.

An AFP reporter saw helicopters swooping low overhead as Canadian armored vehicles pushed into the center of Arghandab, a lush area surrounded by pomegranate orchards considered a strategic prize by the rebels.

A Taliban spokesman told AFP that the hard-line movement's fighters - hundreds of whom swarmed into the district Monday evening - wanted to capture it in order to launch attacks on Kandahar itself.

The southern city, Afghanistan's second biggest, was where the Taliban first rose to power in the 1990s before taking control of the rest of the country.

General Carlos Branco, a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), said more than 1,000 Afghan and Canadian NATO troops were taking part in the operation launched on Wednesday morning.

"We're progressing steadily and carefully not only to avoid civilian casualties but because of the potential threat from possible IEDs [improvised explosive devices]," Branco told AFP.

An Afghan Defense Ministry statement said a group of Taliban fighters was "targeted by NATO air force" in Ta-been village in Arghandab, killing 20 Taliban fighters, while three more of them were shot dead elsewhere in the district. Two soldiers were also killed in the operation, the ministry said.

Branco confirmed that military helicopters had "engaged" the rebels but said no fixed-wing aircraft had dropped bombs.

Mark Laity, a civilian NATO spokesman, said there had been only "minor" clashes with the Taliban fighters but added that "we've inflicted casualties on the (Taliban fighters) during these exchanges."

A self-styled Taliban commander called Mullah Sayed Ahmad, claiming to be calling from Arghandab, told AFP that there had been "very heavy fighting going on and the NATO helicopters also fired machine guns into our positions."

Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi vowed fierce resistance.

"We will use Arghandab for specific attacks with mortars and cannons on targets in Kandahar city," he told AFP from an undisclosed location. "We have also planned a suicide attack which will be carried out in Kandahar."

The operation has forced around 1,500 families to leave their homes and abandon crops that were ready for harvest, said Ahmad Wali Karzai, the head of the Kandahar provincial council and a brother of the Afghan president.

He said that five villages had been cleared and that there were around 650 Taliban fighters in the district, but his account was not confirmed by military officials.

"I evacuated my family three days ago and stayed with my belongings and my animals. But today the fighting started and there are groups of 70 to 80 Taliban taking up positions," said local resident Mir Ahmad.

Meanwhile, Taliban spokesman Ahmadi claimed responsibility for a bomb blast in the neighboring Helmand Province on Tuesday that the Defense Ministry in London said had killed four British troops, including one from the Intelligence Corps.

Another two ISAF soldiers died and 10 were wounded during a patrol in eastern Paktika Province Wednesday, the force said in a separate statement.

Despite the presence of about 70,000 international troops from some 40 countries mainly operating under NATO, (the Taliban resistance to the NATO occupation forces) has gained pace in the past two years.

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