Afghan forces say kill 18 Taliban guerrillas

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Aug 2 (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 yesterday 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 today.

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 US 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 US-led troops for the volatile south today, the biggest ground mission of the alliance in its history.

Separately, 15 police surrendered to the Taliban yesterday 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.

REUTERS DKB PM1350