US says 24 Taliban killed in Afghan battle

By Sayed Salahuddin

KABUL (Reuters) – U.S. and Afghan government forces killed
24 insurgents in the latest clash in the worst violence to hit
the country in years.

An Afghan policemen and four Afghan soldiers were also
killed, the U.S. military said.

About 300 people have been killed in a series of battles,
ambushes and bombings since last Wednesday, according to the
U.S. military and Afghan officials.

It is the worst spell of violence since U.S. and Afghan
opposition forces ousted the Taliban in late 2001 after they
refused to hand over Osama bin Laden.

Most of the dead were militants but dozens of Afghan
police, soldiers and civilians have also been killed, along
with four foreign soldiers.

Witnesses said on Wednesday that an aircraft was on fire at
an airstrip in southern Helmand province, where British and
other foreign troops operate, but the cause of the blaze was
not known.

A British military spokesman said he was aware of an
incident that might have involved an aircraft but declined
further comment.

The commander of Afghan forces in the south, General
Rahmatullah Raufi, said earlier the bodies of about 60
militants had been found after the battle on Tuesday night,
according to the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press.

The general was not immediately available for comment.

The U.S. military said 24 insurgents were killed during six
hours of fierce fighting.

“The engagement stared when a joint combat patrol of Afghan
and coalition forces returned fire against several enemy
fighters who were hiding in a compound shooting at them,” the
U.S. military said in a statement.

“Afghan and coalition forces beat back the attack … enemy
fighters then attempted to reinforce with additional militants
from two nearby compounds,” it said.

JUDGE KILLED IN AMBUSH

Nearly five years after they were forced from power by U.S.
and Afghan forces, the Taliban appear better organized and more
aggressive than at any time since their ouster.

The rising tide of violence comes as thousands of NATO
peacekeepers are arriving as the alliance prepares to take over
security duties in the perilous south from U.S. forces.

The insecurity has disrupted aid and reconstruction work
across ever larger parts of the country.

“There’s no doubt that the Taliban have grown in strength
and influence in certain areas in Kandahar, Helmand and in
southern Uruzgan,” U.S. military spokesman Colonel Tom Collins
told a briefing, referring to three southern provinces.

“That’s why we’re going after them,” he said.

In the south and east, aid agencies and government workers
are increasingly confined to the safety of provincial capitals
while bands of Taliban roam the countryside, attacking remote
police posts and setting ambushes on roads.

In a separate incident, gunmen ambushed a car in the
central province of Ghor on Tuesday, killing a judge, a
provincial official and two guards, said the province’s deputy
governor, Ikramuddin Rezaye.

He said he did not know who was responsible.

A Taliban spokesman, Qari Mohammad Yousuf, said by
telephone the Taliban carried out the attack.

The guerillas, fighting to oust foreign forces and defeat
the government, mostly operate in the south and east and have
not been known to operate in the mountains of Ghor.

But there have been several attacks in recent months
outside the south and east, suggesting the Taliban are
expanding their area of operations.

In a separate incident, Taliban gunmen killed an Afghan man
working as a guard for the U.S. military in Helmand province,
provincial police said.

(Additional reporting by Mirwais Afghan)