US-led troops say kill 40 Taliban in Afghanistan

KABUL (Reuters) – U.S.-led forces have killed about 40
Taliban fighters as they gathered for a meeting in a compound
as part of a major operation against the resurgent rebels in
southern Afghanistan, the U.S. military said.

Foreign troops waited for about 50 rebels, including a
bomb-making group, to gather for a meeting in the compound in
Uruzgan province before striking on Friday, Lieutenant-Colonel
Paul Fitzpatrick said in a statement late on Friday.

“The compound was severely damaged. We anticipate most of
those present were killed.”

There was no immediate comment from the Taliban, ousted in
2001 but which has stepped up its operations in the volatile
south ahead of NATO troops taking over from the U.S. in the
region to allow Washington to pull out about 3,000 soldiers.

A suicide attacker riding on a motorbike blew himself into
pieces as he was trying to attack a convoy of Afghan troops in
Delaram district of the southwestern province of Nimroz on
Saturday.

Two soldiers and three civilians were wounded in the
attack, Wahidullah Khairzad, a spokesman for the provincial
governor, said.

Two coalition soldiers were killed on Friday when their
vehicle was blown up by a roadside bomb in eastern Kunar
province, bordering Pakistan, another U.S. statement said.

Their nationality was not given.

Ghazni province governor Sher Alam Ibrahimi told Reuters
five Taliban rebels were killed and at least 12 captured after
an hours-long battle with Afghan troops and police on Friday.

In Kandahar province, the Taliban heartland, seven Taliban
fighters and a policeman were killed when rebels attacked a
police post overnight, a local official said.

Three rebels died when a mine they were planting exploded
in neighboring Helmand province, officials there said.

This week, foreign forces announced a major operation,
Mountain Thrust, against the Taliban amid the worst violence
since the U.S.-led 2001 invasion.

About 40 foreign soldiers have been killed in combat in
Afghanistan this year, nearly 30 of them Americans.

They are among more than 900 people killed this year, more
than 400 in May alone. Thousands of people have fled their
homes fearing more fighting in the south, where the Taliban
still enjoys considerable popular support.