Twenty-six Taliban killed in Afghanistan

Published: Jan. 3, 2010 at 10:53 AM

KABUL, Afghanistan, Jan. 3 (UPI) --

Twenty-five Taliban fighters have been killed in Kunduz province, once considered the most peaceful area of Afghanistan, authorities said Sunday.

Afghan and NATO forces killed the fighters Saturday in the Dashti Arch district of Kunduz province, Muhammad Omar, a regional governor told KUNA, the Kuwait News Agency.

The area once was Afghanistan's most non-violent region, Omar said.

Elsewhere in Afghanistan, Afghan and NATO troops Saturday killed one militant commander, identified only as Roohullah, and arrested three others in Maidan Wardak province, military officials said in a release.

The combat operation was conducted in the Nirkh district of Maidan Wardak, said Shahidullah Shahid, a spokesman for the provincial governor.

25 Taliban killed in northern Afghanistan - governor

Posted : Sun, 03 Jan 2010 09:06:54 GMT

DPA, Kunduz, Afghanistan -

Afghan troops and US Special Forces killed 25 Taliban fighters in a clash in northern province of Kunduz, the provincial governor said Sunday. The clash in the Archi district began Saturday afternoon when the joint forces conduct a search operation in Mullah Qul village of the district, Mohammad Omar, the provincial governor, said.

"Twenty five Taliban (fighters) were killed in the clash that lasted until Saturday night," he said, adding that the operation was carried out by ground and air forces.

Three other fighters, including Mullah Abdullah, a district level Taliban commander, were detained by the combined forces, the governor said.

Taliban fighters have expanded their presence in the previously relatively peaceful northern region in the past three years. The Taliban fighters are most active in southern and eastern regions where tens of thousands of NATO troops mainly from the United States and Britain are based.

Up to 37,000 additional US and NATO troops are expected to arrive in the country by summer to top the more than 110,000 international troops already stationed in Afghanistan.

January 2, 2010

HERAT, Afghanistan (AFP) –

Five civilians were killed and six wounded when their pick-up truck detonated an improvised explosive device in southwestern Afghanistan, the governor of Nimroz province told AFP Saturday.

The attack was carried out by the Taliban in the district of Bakwan, Farah province, said governor Ghulan Dastagir Azad, whose province borders Farah.

The area where the attack took place is on the border between Farah and Nimroz, he said. Both provinces are under Taliban influence.

He said the blast occurred as the victims tried to travel to a market "regularly targeted by Taliban racketeering".

Civilians have become the main victims of the Afghan war. In the first 10 months of 2009, 2,038 civilians were killed in the conflict, 10 percent more than over the same period in the previous year, according to the United Nations mission in Afghanistan.

Nearly 70 percent of those killed died in attacks carried out by the insurgents, according to the UN.