US military: coalition airstrike kills 20 Taliban in Afghanistan

 DPA, Thu, 02 Apr 2009 12:36:07 GMT

Kabul-

US-led coalition military sources Thursday reported that 20 alleged Taliban fighters were killed in an airstrike on Wednesday. The airstrike was prompted after the Taliban forces attacked Afghan and international troops in southern Afghanistan.

The latest death toll raised the total number of alleged Taliban fighters killed in the past three days in Afghanistan's southern region to 80.

Dozens of alleged Taliban fighters attacked combined Afghan and coalition forces in Kajaki district of southern Helmand province on Wednesday, sparking a fierce gunfight, the US military said in a statement.

The joint forces returned fire and forced the alleged Taliban fighters to withdraw to their secondary fighting position, the statement said, adding, "Once the combined elements ensured there were no non- combatants in the area, a precision strike was called to neutralize the enemy."

"Twenty (alleged Taliban fighters) were killed in the engagement," the statement said, stressing that no Afghan, coalition troops or civilians were killed in the battle.

Southern Helmand, which is the largest opium-producing province in the country, is also the main hub for the Taliban and their al-Qaeda associates.

The Afghan police - backed by NATO troops - killed 30 alleged Taliban fighters, including one of their commanders, in the same Kajaki district on Tuesday. A day earlier, another 30 militants were killed in a separate operation in the neighbouring province of Uruzgan.

Fighting is expected to increase as the weather in the southern and eastern regions, the main areas for Taliban-led resistance activities, turns warmer.

20 Taliban Insurgents Killed In Afghanistan

2 April 2009

(RTTNews) -

A joint team of Afghan and U.S. coalition forces battled a large group of alleged Taliban fighters in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province before calling in an air strike that killed 20 alleged Taliban fighters, the coalition said in a statement Thursday.

The coalition said dozens of alleged Taliban fighters armed with rocket-propelled grenades and small arms Wednesday ambushed foreign and Afghan troops conducting a foot patrol in Helmand province's Kajaki district Wednesday, a hotbed of Taliban activity.

Following a firefight, the alleged Taliban fighters were forced into "secondary fighting position" and once the combined patrol ensured there were no non-combatants in the area, they called in precision strike that hit the alleged Taliban fighters, the statement said adding 20 militants were killed in the engagement while reporting no Afghan or coalition military casualties. 

Wednesday's clashes came a day after 31 alleged Taliban fighters were killed in a series of clashes in the same region.

Southern Afghanistan is not only the center of the Taliban-led resistance, but also the world's largest producer of opium. According to the U.N., hundreds of millions of dollars from the illicit trade are used to fund the insurgency.

Violence in Afghanistan is expected to surge this year. The U.S. is sending 21,000 additional forces--most of whom are going to the south--to bolster 38,000 American troops already in the country in an attempt to contain a resurgent Taliban.