US-led troops kill 10 Taliban in Afghanistan
Kabul,
Apr
3:
US-led
coalition
and
Afghan
troops
killed
at
least
ten
Taliban
fighters
today
in
an
attack
on
a
compound
in
the
southern
province
of
Helmand
after
a
tip-off
that
a
junior
commander
was
hiding
there.
In
the
western
province
of
Farah,
NATO
and
Afghan
forces
raided
a
mosque
and
captured
22
Taliban
they
said
were
being
trained
for
suicide
and
other
attacks,
provincial
police
chief
Sayed
Aqa
Saqib
told
Reuters.
During
the
Helmand
attack,
two
Taliban
fighters
were
also
captured
by
coalition
troops,
who
came
under
fire
from
small
arms,
mortars
and
rocket
propelled
grenades,
according
to
a
coalition
statement.
Western
and
Afghan
forces
have
opened
a
campaign,
code
named
Operation
Achilles,
to
seize
the
initiative
before
the
Islamist
guerrilla's
anticipated
spring
offensive
gets
fully
underway.
The
junior
commander
they
cornered
was
believed
to
have
had
direct
ties
to
Mullah
Dadullah,
the
Taliban's
commander
of
military
operations
in
the
south,
but
the
statement
did
not
say
whether
he
had
been
killed
or
captured.
The
coalition
troops
also
destroyed
a
small-weapons
dump
at
the
compound
in
the
Sangin
Valley.
The
troops
came
under
fire
from
fighters
hiding
in
irrigation
trenches
as
they
tried
to
withdraw.
They
killed
several
of
their
attackers,
but
there
were
no
casualties
on
the
Afghan
and
coalition
side.
Aside
from
being
a
Taliban
stronghold,
Helmand
is
a
major
drug
producing
region
of
Afghanistan,
the
world's
leading
producer
of
heroin.
Both
the
Taliban
and
NATO
troops
under
US
command
regard
the
coming
months
as
a
crucial
period
in
the
six-year
insurgency.
Almost
4,000
people
were
killed
in
2006,
the
bloodiest
year
since
US-led
forces
drove
the
Taliban
militia
from
power.
Reuters