Afghan army begins anti-Taliban offensive
Wednesday, 18 Jun 2008 12:35
Hundreds of Afghan and Nato troops begin offensive to drive Taliban out of villages north of Kandahar City
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Hundreds of Afghan and Nato troops have begun an offensive to drive Taliban fighters out of their positions north of Kandahar in the country's south.
A Nato spokesman said Canadian troops were supporting the Afghan-led drive, which comes days after Taliban gunmen seized villages on the outskirts of Kandahar City.
The offensive was launched amid fears the Taliban, ousted by a US-led coalition in 2001, could target the city itself.
"Today at 8:00 in the morning (04:00 [surely] BST) the clean-up operation started in Arghandab district of Kandahar province," said General Mohammad Zahir Azimi, a spokesman at the Afghan defence ministry.
More than 500 fighters from the extremist Islamist group are thought to have entrenched themselves in the Arghandab district north of Kandahar City, which is close to Afghanistan's border with Pakistan.
The Taliban themselves still enjoy considerable support in the country's south, where their movement began in the early 1990s.
Last weekend hundreds of prisoners were freed when Taliban militants attacked the main jail in Kandahar City.