NATO says 15 insurgents killed in Afghan south
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — NATO said Monday that at least 15 Taliban militants were killed in southern Afghanistan in clashes and an air strike.
Troops raided a compound in Baghran district of Helmand province looking for a senior Taliban commander allegedly overseeing and guiding all Taliban military actions in the province.
In clashes at the property, Afghan and NATO troops killed four insurgents, said the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), although there was no immediate confirmation that the commander was among the dead.
The military said soldiers destroyed the compound after discovering a bomb-making factory and that the property had been booby-trapped with bombs.
ISAF said an air strike then killed 11 militants who attacked ground troops as they were preparing to leave the area.
The deputy head of Helmand provincial council, Haji Fazel Barry, put the overall death toll at 25 Taliban militants, including four commanders.
The United States and NATO have more than 150,000 soldiers in Afghanistan fighting a Taliban-led insurgency, which is at its most intense in Helmand and neighbouring southern province Kandahar.
NATO and Afghan forces are currently engaged in a major offensive around Kandahar city -- the biggest city in the south -- aimed at pushing insurgents out of the area in order to help bring an end to the long war.
Copyright © 2010 AFP. All rights reserved. (google.com/hostednews)
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