50 Alleged Taliban Killed, Army Says
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KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — A six-hour battle in southern Afghanistan left over 50 Taliban fighters killed or wounded, while a suicide bomber targeting a police patrol ended in the deaths of three civilians and an officer, officials said today.
Also in the south, a roadside bomb against an American-led coalition convoy killed one soldier and wounded another, a coalition statement said. In the east, coalition forces raided a compound suspected of housing Al Qaeda facilitators, killing several militants yesterday, a coalition statement said.
NATO-led troops and Afghan army soldiers launched an attack in Baluch village in Uruzgan province during a gathering of local Taliban yesterday, the provincial police chief, Juma Gul Himat, said.
“More than 50 enemies were killed or wounded” and 13 others detained during the joint operation, a statement from Afghanistan’s Defense Ministry said.
A spokesman for NATO’s International Security Assistance Force, Major Charles Anthony, said that “several dozen militants were killed” in the clash.
“This was a well-led and well-coordinated engagement, with the Afghan National Army and ISAF working in conjunction with each other,” Major Anthony said.
Two policemen and an Afghan soldier were also wounded, Mr. Jumat said.
It was impossible to immediately verify the death counts.
The clash follows a large-scale engagement in neighboring Helmand province, where some 80 militants were killed during a weekend operation conducted by American Special Forces.
In Helmand’s capital of Lashkar Gah, meanwhile, a suicide bomber blew himself up next to a taxi stand today, killing three civilians and wounding five other people, including a policeman, provincial police chief Mohammad Hussein Andiwal said.
The bomber, who appears to have been a teenager, was also killed in the blast. Mr. Andiwal said the target of the attack was a nearby police patrol.
Violence in Afghanistan this year has been the deadliest since the 2001 American-led invasion. More than 5,300 people have died this year due to insurgency related violence, according to an Associated Press count based on figures from Afghan and Western officials.
