US army kills scores of Taliban militants
US army kills scores of Taliban militants
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Saturday, 24, Jun 2006 10:57
At least 65 Taliban insurgents have been killed by the US-led coalition in Afghanistan in fresh offences in the country's southern regions, bringing the total militant death toll during the last seven days to 82.
The US army today revealed that coalition and Afghan troops engaged with insurgents in Zharie in the Zandahar province yesterday, with the three-hour battle resulting in 25 militant fatalities.
In a separate assault in Mirabad in the nearby Uruzgan province, 40 Taliban fighters are reported to have been killed in a five-hour gun battle.
Earlier this week 17 militants were killed in Tirin Kot, the Uruzgan capital, as forces step up their attacks upon Taliban insurgents as part of Operation Mountain Thrust, which has seen 10,000 troops deployed over the southern provinces and led to 200 Taliban deaths since May.
At Zharie, a Taliban weapon haul was seized by the US army, including rifles, machine guns and rocket launches, although the army also revealed that insurgents had taken civilians hostage in order to use them as human shields.
"Several extremists broke contact by using innocent Afghan civilians as shields to escape into nearby villages," a spokesman said.
But despite this there have been no reported civilian casualties during the assaults of the last week.
Lieutenant Colonel Paul Fitzpatrick, US-led coalition spokesman, said: "The Afghan National Army and coalition forces continue to demonstrate how well they work together to defeat our common enemies.
"Afghan and coalition forces will continue to place heavy pressure on Taliban insurgents hiding in southern Afghanistan in support of Operation Mountain Thrust."