Scores of Taliban killed in Afghan battle: police

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) – More than 70 Taliban
guerrillas have been killed in fighting with NATO and Afghan
forces in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar, a
provincial police official said on Sunday.

Four policemen were also killed in the battle in Panjwai
district, to the southwest of Kandahar city, Panjwai police
chief Neyaz Mohammad Sarhadi told Reuters.

“So far, we’ve recovered the bodies of 72 Taliban,” Sarhadi
said.

The battle erupted late on Saturday after hundreds of
Taliban attacked the district government headquarters, he said.

NATO aircraft were also involved in the fighting in the
district where clashes have erupted regularly since May when
hundreds of Taliban were found to have infiltrated the area.

“It was fierce fighting and lasted until early this
morning,” Sarhadi said.

A spokesman for NATO troops, Major Scott Lundy, said the
Taliban had suffered significant casualties. He said the NATO
force had not suffered any losses.

The Taliban could not be reached for comment but the
guerrillas have in the past rejected death tolls issued by
Afghan and foreign forces.

Afghanistan is going through its worst phase of violence
since U.S.-led troops overthrew a Taliban government in 2001.

More than 1,800 people have been killed in violence this
year, most of them militants but including more than 90 foreign
troops.

Four foreign soldiers were killed in two separate clashes
on Saturday.

Most of the violence has been concentrated in the south
where NATO assumed responsibility for security from a separate
U.S.-led force last month.

The NATO mission, the biggest ground operation in the
alliance’s history, should allow the U.S. military to trim the
size of its Afghan force.

U.S.-led forces overthrew the Taliban in late 2001 after
they refused to hand over al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden after
the September 11 attacks on the United States.

(Additional reporting by Yousuf Azimy in Kabul)