At Least 14 Taliban Die in Afghan Bombing

U.S. jets bombed an area of southeastern Afghanistan on Monday, killing at least 14 insurgents, U.S. and Afghan authorities said. A provincial official said as many as 50 Taliban guerrillas were killed.

There was no immediate way to reconcile the differing casualty figures.

The attack was part of joint operations between the U.S. military and local Afghan militia hunting down Taliban fighters blamed for a series of attacks mostly in the south and east of the country, according to Ahmad Khan, a spokesman for the governor of Zabul province.

At least 14 guerrillas were killed when Afghan militia forces and coalition Special Operations forces supported by fighter jets — A-10s, AV-8s and F-16s – engaged anticoalition forces in southern Kandahar province, said Col. Rodney Davis, spokesman for the U.S. military at the coalition headquarters at Bagram Air Base north of Kabul.

Both Ahmad Khan and Juma Khan, a district police chief, said the assault occurred in the Dai Chupan district of southeastern Zabul province, north of Kandahar.

Juma Khan put the death toll at 16.

There were no reported coalition casualties, Davis said, adding that “Operation Warrior Sweep continues.”

A Taliban spokesman, Mohammed Hanif, told The Associated Press by satellite telephone that Afghan government troops launched two separate offensives against guerrilla fighters in the mountainous Dai Chupan district.

“It was a massive force of the government who wanted to kill and arrest the Taliban, but they were not successful,” he said, claiming the Taliban contingent, led by Amir Khan Haqqani, fled the area.

He said only civilians were killed in the area.

The offensive followed a wave of Taliban attacks against government targets, particularly in south and east Afghanistan in the past two weeks.

At least five government soldiers riding in a truck were killed in a Taliban ambush in Dai Chupan district on Saturday.

There were no reported coalition casualties, Davis said, adding that “Operation Warrior Sweep continues.”

A Taliban spokesman, Mohammed Hanif, told The Associated Press by satellite telephone that Afghan government troops launched two separate offensives against guerrilla fighters in the mountainous Dai Chupan district.

“It was a massive force of the government who wanted to kill and arrest the Taliban, but they were not successful,” he said, claiming the Taliban contingent, led by Amir Khan Haqqani, fled the area.

He said only civilians were killed in the area.

The offensive followed a wave of Taliban attacks against government targets, particularly in south and east Afghanistan in the past two weeks.

At least five government soldiers riding in a truck were killed in a Taliban ambush in Dai Chupan district on Saturday.

Earlier, Afghan officials about 100 people had been arrested in the last few days in the hunt for suspected Taliban officials.

Operations in Paktika and Zabul provinces follow a wave of attacks by suspected Taliban against police stations and government forces in the past two weeks. The violence has killed dozens of people and has cast a shadow over efforts to rebuild the war-battered country.

Presidential spokesman Jawad Luddin said the guerrillas were trying to stop reconstruction and destabilize local administrations of the government of Afghan leader Hamid Karzai, who took power after the ouster of the hardline Islamic militia by U.S.-led forces in late 2001.

In Paktika, about 600 mostly U.S. troops, backed by helicopter gunships, have been searching house-to-house for the past four days, said Khan Sayed, spokesman for the provincial police chief.

Sayed said the operation was centered in Urgun district. About 80 suspects had been arrested, he said.

Zabul’s police chief, Juma Khan, told The Associated Press that about 600 Afghan and American soldiers had been deployed in the mountainous districts of Dai Chupan, Dagam and Babu Jhar, about 200 miles west of Kabul.

“So far, American and Afghan soldiers have arrested 20 to 25 people in these districts on suspicion of their links with Taliban,” Khan said.

Also on Monday, suspected Taliban insurgents exploded a land mine on a key highway in the eastern province of Logar but no one was injured, said Gen. Hatiqulluh Luddin, a regional military commander. The guerrillas were apparently targeting a convoy of government troops, but the mine only blew up a highway bridge minutes before the soldiers were to cross it, he said.

Presidential spokesman Luddin said Monday the military operations in Zabul and Paktika had been “very successful.”

He said the insurgent attacks were localized in areas “where the terrorists find a soft space to operate.” He claimed they were linked to terrorist cells outside the country.

The recent assaults have been mostly in the south and east of Afghanistan, but also in some central regions. They come amid reports the Taliban are regrouping and that the group’s leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, has appointed military commanders to areas of control.

The Afghan administration has complained to Pakistan that ousted Taliban leaders appear to have found refuge in its lawless tribal regions where they have been able to regroup and plot their attacks. Pakistan has deployed its troops to the long and porous border regions to try to stop them.

Also Monday, a spokesman for warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum said powerful warlords have gathered about 100 light and heavy weapons from their supporters to stop the relentless factional feuding.