Hundreds of militants have been killed or injured as Afghan troops, backed by NATO, launched an operation against Taliban fighters in Arghandab district of Kandahar province in south Afghanistan Wednesday, provincial governor Assadullah Khalid said Thursday.
"Hundreds of insurgents were killed, wounded and arrested Wednesday, and Arghandab district is free of Taliban rebels now," Khalid told a news conference in Arghandab Thursday morning.
However, he could not give the exact figure of Taliban casualties.
In the meantime, Khalid said that only two Afghan soldiers were killed and three others sustained injuries during the operation.
Afghan army soldiers patrol in the southern city of Kandahar June 18, 2008. The Afghan army launched an operation on Wednesday to drive Taliban insurgents from villages on the outskirts of Kandahar city in the south , the defence ministry said, but gave no details.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Flanked by commanders from NATO and Afghan Army, the Kandahar governor stressed that militants had fled Arghandab and now the situation is in control of government forces.
Taliban militants have not made any comment so far.
Afghan army soldiers patrol during an operation in Arghandab district in the southern city of Kandahar June 18, 2008. Helicopter gunships and troops with small and heavy arms blasted a valley in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday as local and NATO forces launched a huge offensive against hundreds of Taliban insurgents, many of whom broke out of jail last week.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Hundreds of militants in a surprise move occupied several villages in Arghandab district, 15 km northwest of Kandahar city, in the weekend and posed serious threat to the provincial capital where militants emerged in 1994 and disappeared in late 2001 under a U.S.-led military invasion.
British soldiers from the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) question locals through an interpreter during a patrol in the city of Kandahar, south of Afghanistan June 17, 2008. Scores of families were fleeing their homes on Tuesday amid fear of an operation by foreign and Afghan forces for driving out Taliban who have taken several villages in Kanadahar, officials and witnesses said.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo) More than 1,000 soldiers of Afghan National Army, Afghan Police and NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) launched the operation against Taliban militants in Arghandab Wednesday morning.
British soldiers from the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) patrol in the city of Kandahar, south of Afghanistan June 17, 2008. Scores of families were fleeing their homes on Tuesday amid fear of an operation by foreign and Afghan forces for driving out Taliban who have taken several villages in Kanadahar, officials and witnesses said.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo) More than 1,500 people have been killed in conflicts and violence since January this year in Afghanistan.
Source: Xinhua
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