Kabul - Afghan officials claimed on Wednesday that their
forces backed by coalition air support killed 88 militants in
southern province of Helmand, where the clash with Taliban also left
six police forces killed.
In latest attack in the province, six Afghan police forces were
killed when Taliban militants attacked a police post on the outskirts
of Lashkargah, the capital of Helmand province, on Tuesday night,
provincial police chief Assadullah Shirzad said.
Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousif Ahmadi, talking about the
same firefight, said Taliban fighters killed 12 police and soldiers
in their attacks on three security posts. Ahmadi spoke by phone from
an undisclosed location.
In another incident, Shirzad said, police had intelligence
information that Taliban fighters had gathered near the provincial
capital to attack several police posts.
In a pre-emptive police action, 18 Taliban militants, including
two commanders, were killed Tuesday night in the Anar Bagh area of
Lashkargah city.
'Mullah Saboor and Mullah Gul, two Taliban commanders, were among
18 militants killed in the firefight,' Shirzad said.
He said seven Taliban and three police officers were wounded in
the clash.
In another incident in the same province, coalition airplanes
bombed Taliban hideouts in Baramcha area of Garmsir district, killing
up to 70 militants, including foreign fighters, Daoud Ahmadi,
spokesman for the provincial governor said.
'The dead militants included a number of Chechens, Arabs and
Pakistani fighters,' Daoud said, adding that his account was based on
'intelligence information.'
He said the joint forces received intelligence information that
militants had gathered in the area, which is close to border with
Pakistan, and planned to carry out a 'major attack' in the province.
NATO-led forces confirmed that they were involved in the air
operation, but said that their attack targeted a 'small group of
Taliban commanders', raising doubts that the claimed number of
Taliban death toll by Afghan officials could have been exaggerated.
'After positively identifying these insurgents, ISAF attacked them
with precision air strikes, killing the insurgents and destroying two
of their vehicles,' the alliance said in a statement.
Due to remoteness of the area, it was difficult to verify the
death toll independently.
Taliban militants are well-entrenched in Helmand, where more than
8,000 British troops are stationed. The British soldiers are part of
around 50,000 NATO-commanded troops deployed to the country from 40
nations.
The militants attacked several police posts Saturday night in an
attempt to capture the provincial capital but were pushed by Afghan
and NATO forces. More than 60 militants were killed in ground attacks
and NATO air strikes in that counterattack.
Helmand, which is also the largest opium-producing province in the
country, has seen numerous clashes between the Taliban and allied
forces since the beginning of this year.
Provincial officials believe that hundreds of foreign fighters
have poured into the province recently to back indigenous militants
in their insurgency.
More than 4,000 people - mostly insurgents - have been killed in
the Afghan conflict so far this year, according to figures provided
by military sources and tallied by dpa.
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