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Afghan forces kill 30 Taliban
05/06/2007 18:28 - (SA)
Kabul - US-led coalition and Afghan forces have killed up to 30 Taliban fighters as they tried to escape on a boat from a battle in southern Afghanistan, an Afghan government spokesperson said on Tuesday.
Violence has escalated in Afghanistan in recent months after the traditional winter lull, following last year's bloodiest fighting since the Taliban's ouster in 2001.
The boat came under fire from US helicopters and joint ground fire on Monday in the Helmand River of Helmand province, a defence ministry spokesperson said.
"The Taliban fired at the choppers and in a retaliatory attack later, between 20 and 30 Taliban were killed," Zahir Azimi said.
At the weekend, 60 Taliban were drowned when another boat capsized in an accident in the same river, he said. Helmand province has been the scene of bloody clashes in recent months.
US-led forces did not have immediate comment about Monday's battle and a Taliban spokesperson rejected the report as baseless.
'No fighters killed'
The US military said earlier on Tuesday that an air strike by coalition forces had killed two dozen Taliban fighters in a four-hour battle in neighbouring Kandahar province on Monday.
There were no reports of civilian casualties and no casualties among foreign and Afghan troops, the US military also said.
The air raid was summoned after Afghan and coalition troops came under attack by insurgents, it added.
The Taliban denied any of its fighters had been killed in the Kandahar battle.
The Taliban beheaded a hostage on Tuesday after the Afghan government failed to hand over the body of a slain commander for the militant group, a purported Taliban spokesperson said.
The Afghan government had agreed to hand over the body of Mullah Dadullah, killed by US-led forces last month, in return for the release of five local health workers captured by the Islamist insurgents, an official said earlier.
Taliban active near border
However, Shahabuddin Attal, who introduces himself as a Taliban spokesperson, said a Dadullah family member had gone to retrieve the body but it was not handed over.
The Taliban are active largely in southern and eastern areas close to the border with Pakistan.
More than 5 000 people have been killed, mostly in those areas, in the past 17 months in Taliban-linked raids and operations by foreign troops.
US-coalition and Nato forces have deployed about 50 000 troops in Afghanistan, alongside nearly 100 000 Afghan forces.
- Reuters
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