US bombs kill 20 Taliban

2004-05-26 10:54

Kabul - US warplanes and Afghan forces have killed about 20 suspected Taliban fighters in raids on mountain hideouts near the Pakistani border, scattering some 200 insurgents, local officials said on Wednesday.

The planes bombed Arghistan, near the border town of Spin Boldak about 100km southeast of Kandahar on Tuesday, where around 200 Taliban suspects armed with rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) and AK-47 rifles were hiding, Kandahar intelligence chief Abdullah Laghmanai said.

"During the operation 20 Taliban were killed, two of them were senior commanders," Laghmanai told reporters.

He named the two Taliban commanders as Qari Faizullah and Qari Ali Mohammed.

"The operation is still ongoing with government troops chasing down Taliban to the Pakistani border," Laghmanai said.

"We estimated that 200 Taliban were in the area and now they have scattered."

It was the largest number of Taliban killed in a clash so far this year. Last September more than 100 suspected militants were killed during a massive US-Afghan operation in neighbouring Zabul province.

Laghmanai said the US-led coalition provided air support, but none of their troops was on the ground.

The US military were not immediately available for comment.

In Kandahar, General Abdul Wasay said US air support came in when Taliban fighters attacked the district.

"But government troops in the district, numbering 60 to 100 people, resisted and defeated their attackers."

Wasay said more than 20 Taliban were killed either by the bombardment or ground forces.

"They (the Taliban) were armed with RPGs, AK-47s and other new, modern weapons," he said.

Wasay said the estimated 200 militants had crossed into Afghanistan from Pakistan.

Afghanistan regularly claims that Pakistani insurgents infiltrate the porous border area to attack foreign and Afghan forces aimed in a campaign to destabilise the US-backed government of President Hamid Karzai.

A senior Afghan security official said on Tuesday the number of insurgents entering Afghanistan from Pakistan had increased, possibly because of an intensified campaign by Pakistani forces to destroy their sanctuaries.

"Recently the cross-border graphics show that there has been increased infiltration along the border," security advisor to President Hamid Karzai, Dr. Zalmay Rassoul told a press conference in Kabul.

Hundreds of Al-Qaeda-linked fighters have taken refuge among sympathetic Pashtun tribes in Pakistan's South Waziristan bordering Afghanistan and intelligence agencies believe Osama bin Laden and his number two Ayman al-Zawahiri may have taken refuge there.

About 20 000 US-led troops are in Afghanistan hunting Taliban, Al-Qaeda and other militants.

- AFP