Afghan clashes kill 27 Taliban-Afghan army commander

KABUL, Jun 12 (Reuters) Afghan and U S-led foreign forces have killed 27 Taliban fighters in the latest clashes in the worst violence Afghanistan has seen since the Taliban were ousted in 2001.

Rahmatullah Raufi, a government army commander in the Afghan south, said a brother-in-law of fugitive Taliban chief Mullah Mohammad Omar was ''most probably'' among those killed in the clashes yesterday night.

''Most probably, Amanullah, the brother-in-law of Mullah Omar, who was also keeping his finances, was also killed,'' Raufi told Reuters today.

He said 15 Taliban fighters were killed in the clashes in Deh Rawood district in the southern province of Uruzgan, while 12 militants were killed in an airstrike by U S-led forces in Panjwai district of southern Kandahar province.

A spokesman for US-led forces said they were checking the reports.

More than 900 people have been killed in Afghan violence this year, about 400 of them in May, according to U.S. and government figures.

The violence is the worst it has been since US and Afghan opposition forces ousted the Taliban in late 2001 after the hardline Islamists refused to hand over Osama bin Laden.

Foreign military officials say the insurgents are trying to spread alarm among NATO governments before the deployment of thousands of extra alliance peacekeepers in coming months.

REUTERS SHB HT1937