Kabul - Afghan and coalition forces killed at least 50
suspected Taliban in the infamous Tora Bora area of eastern
Afghanistan near the Pakistani border, while 33 other rebels were
killed in the southern region, officials said Tuesday.
The joint operation by Afghan and coalition forces started in
Zirlan Tangi in the Tora Bora area of eastern Nangarhar province
Monday morning and at least 50 suspected militants were killed
in airstrikes and by ground forces, Noor Agha Zowak, the provincial
spokesman for Nangarhar governor told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
'In the operation which was mainly conducted by coalition air
forces, over 50 suspected Taliban were killed since the forces moved
towards the area at 7 am on Monday morning,' Zowak said.
He said that dozens of militants belonging to Mullah Zeyarat Gul,
a local commander for the Taliban, had recently crossed the border
from the Pakistan side, but the local people in Zirlan Tangi forced
them out of their area.
'After the people informed us that the Taliban went to Tora Bora
and were consolidating their posts there, our joint military
commission decided to attack the area,' Zowak said, adding that the
joint operation was still ongoing.
Tora Bora is a complex of caves in eastern Afghanistan from which
al-Qaeda's top leader Osama bin Laden reportedly escaped after a
fierce battle with US-led coalition forces in late 2001 soon after
the fall of the Taliban regime in Kabul.
Since then, it's the first time the Taliban militants seem to be
re-occupying and opening a new front in Tora Bora which has a long
border with Pakistan Pakistan.
Meanwhile, Afghan and NATO forces killed at least 33 suspected
Taliban insurgents in a fight in the volatile southern Kandahar
province, provincial governor Assadullah Khalid said.
The attack on Taliban hideouts was conducted on Monday night in
the Zherai district of the province, after a remote-control
roadside bomb blast killed seven policemen in the district earlier
in the day, Khalid said.
'After the police vehicle was blown up in the area, the police
supported by international forces conducted a searching operation in
the area and as a result of a firefight with the insurgents, 33
Taliban members were killed,' Khalid said.
He said that there were no casualties among the joint forces.
Kandahar along with its neighbouring provinces have been the scene
of a resurgence of Taliban activities since the beginning of spring
this year. The militancy so far has left over 2,600 people - mostly
militants - dead in Afghanistan.
In a separate incident, coalition forces killed a suspected
militant and detained two others in an operation early Tuesday
against al-Qaeda operatives in the Zana Khan district of Ghazni
Province, the US military said in a statement.
'Credible intelligence led the forces to the location suspected of
housing militants,' the statement said, adding that the soldier shot
dead one suspected militant while the other two were arrested for
questioning.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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