Kabul - Afghan and NATO forces killed eight insurgents and
captured four in combat operations in the south-eastern region, while
several more militants were killed in separate clashes with coalition
forces, officials said Sunday.
In Zurmat district of south-eastern province of Paktia, five
militants were reported killed and three wounded in an Afghan army
operation backed by NATO troops.
Niaz Mohammad Khalil, district administrative chief, said the
operation began in the area after police found the bodies of two
Afghan security forces members.
Khalil said one police officer and one army soldier had been
kidnapped from their homes by militants during their holidays and
were later killed.
In neighbouring Khost province, Afghan army and international
forces killed three Taliban fighters in combat Saturday, regional
army spokesman Colonel Mohammad Gul said.
Gul said four other militants were captured in the operation, with
no casualties on the side of combined forces.
Meanwhile, US-led Coalition forces killed several militants and
arrested eight in an operation in Sabari district of south-eastern
province of Khost on Saturday, a US military statement said.
The target was militants involved in conducting roadside bomb
attacks in the region, the statement said, adding that their head was
among the arrested rebels.
In a separate operation by coalition forces also on Saturday,
several Taliban insurgents were killed by coalition forces in Garmsir
district of southern Helmand province, the statement said.
The operation was conducted against militants, who had links with
foreign fighters and weapon smuggling in the province, it said. No
coalition forces were hurt in the either of the operations.
In southern Kandahar province, police seized a car full of
explosives and another vehicle used as guide, when the drivers tried
to enter Kandahar city, the provincial capital, Sayed Agha Saqib,
provincial police chief, said.
He said two Pakistanis and one Afghani were arrested from the cars
and police discovered two roadside bombs in the province. The NATO-
led Canadian forces defused the bombs, Saqib said.
Taliban militants, whose government was toppled in a US-led
military invasion in late 2001, have waged a bloody war against the
Afghan army and some 70,000 international forces in the country.
The insurgents also have heavily relied on the use of roadside and
suicide attacks after they sustained heavy casualties in previous
years during the conventional fighting, according to Afghan and
foreign military officials.
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