Scores of Taliban killed in Afghan battle

By Mirwais Afghan

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, southwest of Kandahar city, that erupted late on
Saturday, said Panjwai police chief Neyaz Mohammad Sarhadi.

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

He said the battle began when hundreds of Taliban attacked
government headquarters in the district where clashes have
erupted regularly since May when hundreds of Taliban were found
to have infiltrated.

NATO aircraft were also involved in the fighting, he said.

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

A Taliban spokesman told a Pakistan-based news agency 12
Taliban were killed and at least 30 NATO and government troops
had died. NATO aircraft had killed many civilians, the
spokesman told the Afghan Islamic Press.

Afghanistan is experiencing its worst violence since the
Taliban were ousted in 2001. Although the insurgents are not in
a position to defeat the Western-backed government, the war is
sapping support for President Hamid Karzai, analysts say.

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 clashes on
Saturday.

In a separate incident on Sunday, a British soldier was
killed in southern Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defense said.

“He died as a result of a contact on Sangin, northern
Helmand province,” a ministry spokesman told Reuters in London.

Three other British soldiers were wounded in the incident.

Most of the recent violence has been 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 its
history, should allow the U.S. military to trim the size of its
Afghan force.

There are now more than 35,000 foreign troops in
Afghanistan confronting a resurgent Taliban fueled by funds
from the drugs trade and support from international militant
networks.

The war has hurt efforts to breathe life into the economy
and undermined support for Karzai, who has led the country
since the Taliban were ousted.

Karzai, in an Independence Day statement issued late on
Saturday, said international forces at times made mistakes.

“Such mistakes incur losses to people and anger them. The
campaign against terrorism should be arranged with the
coordination of our security and defense authorities,” he said.

Karzai has in the past made several similar calls.

U.S.-led forces overthrew the Taliban in 2001 after they
refused to hand over Osama bin Laden after the September 11
attacks.

(Additional reporting by Sayed Salahuddin Yousuf Azimy in
KABUL)