Scores of Taliban, 3 Canadians killed in Afghan battle

KABUL, Sep 3 (Reuters) Three Canadian soldiers serving with NATO forces have been killed during a major offensive that wiped out scores of Taliban fighters in southern Afghanistan, an Afghan Defence Ministry spokesman said today.

NATO also lost 14 British military personnel, who died when a Royal Air Force Nimrod MR2 spyplane crashed yesterday while the alliance and Afghan forces mounted Operation Medusa in Panjwai district of Kandahar province.

Hundreds of troops, backed by warplanes and helicopter gunships, were involved in the offensive on the area, southwest of Kandahar city, that has been a centre of Taliban resistance.

''The reports we have received from the battle ground says 89 Taliban have been killed since yesterday,'' Defence Ministry spokesman Zahir Azimi said.

''Three Canadian soldiers have been killed and six wounded in the fighting,'' he added.

The operation was the biggest by NATO since it took over command of the southern region on July 31 from US-led coalition forces, Major Scott Lundy, a spokesman for the alliance, said.

A NATO statement released from Kandahar Airfield said dozens of insurgents had been killed and many more wounded by the end of the first day of fighting.

Officials said the Nimrod's crash was caused by a technical problem, though the Taliban claimed its fighters shot down the plane with a Stinger missile.

HEAVY FIGHTING Panjwai has seen heavy fighting before, and several thousand people fled the region earlier this year to avoid being caught in the crossfire.

This time, Lundy said, NATO asked villagers to evacuate the area beforehand and there were no reports of civilian casualties.

A purported Taliban member, Nasib Khan, phoned Reuters from the battle zone and denied that any Taliban fighters had been killed.

The sound of artillery fire, and explosions resounded as he spoke, and the cries of children were heard in the background.

The insurgency is going through its bloodiest period since US-backed forces overthrew a Taliban government in late 2001 after it refused to hand over al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden following the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.

More than 2,000 people, most of them militants, along with scores of civilians and aid workers as well as hundreds of Afghan security personnel have been killed so far this year, while over 100 foreign troops, have died, including those killed in yesterday's plane crash.

REUTERS LL HT2015