US-led troops say kill 14 Taliban rebels

KABUL (Reuters) – U.S.-led forces have killed 14 Taliban
fighters in clashes during a major operation against rebels in
volatile southern Afghanistan, the U.S. military said.

Eight insurgents were killed in a raid on Thursday on a
cave complex used as a “meeting place and sanctuary” for
Taliban bomb-makers in Uruzgan province.

Six rebels were arrested while a cache containing AK-47
assault rifles, rocket propelled grenades and two machine guns
was also recovered, a spokesman for the U.S. military said in a
statement late on Thursday.

The coalition forces did not suffer any losses.

Six other Taliban fighters were killed in an attack in
neighboring Helmand province on Wednesday, the spokesman said.

There were no immediate comment on the attacks from the
Taliban, who were ousted from power in 2001 but have stepped up
attacks in their southern heartland, bordering Pakistan, where
they enjoy considerable support from the local population.

More than 1,000 people, including over 40 foreign soldiers,
have died this year, the worst bloodshed in the war-ravaged
country since the fall of the Taliban and ahead of NATO troops
taking over the volatile south from the U.S. forces.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Thursday voiced his
concern over the growing violence and urged the world to extend
war against militants beyond his country’s borders — an
oblique reference to neighboring Pakistan from where the Afghan
officials say the Taliban organize and launch attacks.