Four dozen rebels killed in Afghan battle-US
KABUL, July 23 (Reuters) US-led troops killed more than four dozen insurgents in a battle in Afghanistan's southern province of Helmand, without any civilian casualties, the US military said on Monday.
But a resident of the area told Reuters at least eight civilians died in yesterday's battle in the province's Musa Qala district. The resident said the victims, who belonged to one family, were killed in a US air raid during the battle.
The man also said there were ''more civilian fatalities and residents were working to dig out the casualties from under the rubble''. Provincial officials declined to talk to the media about the incident.
Also yesterday, 14 Taliban were killed in a raid by Afghan police in the southern province of Zabul, the Afghan Interior Ministry said.
But the Taliban said it lost only four fighters, including a senior commander, and added it had inflicted heavy losses on the police.
Violence has surged in Afghanistan in the past 18 months, the bloodiest period since US-led troops overthrew the Taliban's government in 2001.
Civilians are often caught up in the fighting. More than 300 non-combatants have been killed this year alone in foreign troops' operations against the Taliban, according to government officials and Western aid workers.
Yesterday's fighting in Helmand, part of the main bastion of the Taliban, began after Afghan and coalition soldiers on patrol came under attack by an unknown number of enemy fighters, the military said in a statement.
The soldiers then destroyed a suspected suicide bomb vehicle in which two insurgents were killed, the statement added.
After the destruction of the vehicle, more than seven insurgents began firing at the soldiers from two compounds and close air support was summoned. More insurgent reinforcements later arrived, the statement said.
''As the battle continued into early morning, more than four dozen insurgents had been confirmed killed ... including what intelligence suggests were two mid-level Taliban commanders,'' it said, adding there were no casualties among Afghan and foreign troops.
Today, one Norwegian soldier was killed in a clash to the south of Kabul, Oslo said.
And yesterday, another NATO soldier was killed in an ambush in the eastern province of Kunar, the alliance said, bringing the death toll of foreign troops to 81 in action this year.
More than 6,500 people have been killed in the past 18 months in Afghanistan and the violence has disrupted development and reconstruction projects, adding to the frustration of many Afghans.
A former president, Burhanuddin Rabbani, has said the Taliban-led insurgency cannot be defeated militarily and called for a political resolution of the violence, according to a private weekly.
Reuters
SY
GC2051