Afghan forces say kill 18 Taliban guerrillas

By Mirwais Afghan

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) – NATO and Afghan forces
killed 18 Taliban guerrillas in a raid on a village in southern
Afghanistan, where violence has escalated after NATO troops
took over from U.S. forces.

In another province in the Taliban’s southern heartland, 15
police surrendered as the rebels were about to attack their
post, the Taliban said.

The NATO-Afghan raid on the rebels on Tuesday came after
villagers told government forces guerrillas had gathered in the
village of Garmser in Helmand province, the provincial police
chief said.

“We carried out the operation in which 18 Taliban got
killed and we recovered a huge amount of ammunitions,” Nabi
Mullahkhail, told Reuters on Wednesday.

He did not give further details but said there were no
casualties among the NATO and Afghan troops. Taliban officials
could not be contacted for immediate comment.

The clash came hours after three British soldiers were
killed in an ambush on their patrol in Helmand, a day after
NATO took over from the U.S. to allow Washington to pull about
3,000 soldiers out of the country.

Afghanistan is going through the bloodiest phase of
violence since U.S.-led forces overthrew the Taliban in 2001,
much of it in the south, including Helmand, the main drug
producing region in the country that is the world’s major
source of heroin.

In the capital, Kabul, a blast in a car killed a man and
wounded two on Wednesday, police said. The cause of explosion
was unclear.

NATO assumed security responsibility from U.S.-led troops
for the volatile south on Monday, the biggest ground mission of
the alliance in its history.

Separately, 15 police surrendered to the Taliban on Tuesday
in Zabul, another province in the south, as rebels readied to
storm their post just outside Qalat, the provincial capital,
Taliban commander Mullah Zahir said.

Zabul police chief Noor Mohammad Pakteen said he had heard
the report and a government team has been sent to investigate,
but a government official in Kabul confirmed the surrender.

Zabul is where several months ago five police shot dead
seven comrades as they slept, before defecting to the Taliban.

There have been many cases of police — poorly trained and
equipped — running away from the Taliban, or in some areas
surrendering to the militants.

More than 1,700 people have been killed in attacks by the
militants, drug barons and in operations by foreign troops this
year, mostly in the south.

The victims include militants, civilians, scores of Afghan
police and troops and more than 70 foreign soldiers.