Clashes involving NATO and Afghan troops against Taliban fighters in Afghanistan killed 27 militants, two civilians, one NATO soldier and one member of Afghan police, officials said on Friday.A soldier from NATOÂ’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was killed and three wounded in eastern Afghanistan, ISAF said in a statement, reported the Associated Press.
In the southern fight, NATO troops as well as Afghan police and soldiers, battled Taliban fighters in the Zhari district of Kandahar province for three hours, leaving 20 Taliban dead, said Khairuddin Khan, Zhari district chief. A Taliban commander called Mullah Naqibullah was among those killed, Khan said. Neither NATO nor Afghan forces suffered any casualties, he added. ISAFÂ’s press office said it had no immediate information about the clash.
In the east, Taliban fighters attacked the home of a police official in Zurmat district of Paktia province late on Thursday, said Ghulam Dastagir, deputy provincial police chief. Police reinforcements were called in, sparking a battle that left six Taliban dead and seven injured, he added. Five rockets were fired from the top of a mountain in Kunar province, hitting several civilian homes and killing two women, said provincial police chief Abdul Jalal Jalal. Five more civilians were injured. In Khost province, small bombs exploded before dawn on Friday outside the houses of six government officials and a man working as a translator for the US military, said Wazir Pacha, a police spokesman. No one was hurt.
Violence has increased around Afghanistan the last several weeks. More than 1,800 people have died in insurgency-related violence this year, according an Associated Press count based on US, NATO and Afghan statements.
According to AFP, insurgents also attacked a police post in Nuristan province, sparking a gun battle that killed a policeman and a militant and wounded four police, provincial governor Tamim Nuristani said. The US-led coalition also announced the arrest of a Taliban sub-commander and bomb-maker in the south of the country. It said the man, Haji Salam, had also been involved in suicide attacks in the southern province of Ghazni.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported that despite the loss of a NATO Chinook helicopter this week with seven soldiers on board, a British-led offensive to drive the Taliban from strongholds in Helmand province is yielding success, Western military officers said.
A force of 2,000 troops launched the operation two days ago to trap Taliban militants north of the Sangin Valley and in the Kajaki dam region, officials said. Securing the area around the Kajaki dam, a key hydroelectric project that could bring power to hundreds of thousands of poor Afghans, is a key objective, because officials hope a turbine can be transported to the area this summer for a power project that could improve electricity for almost 2 million Afghans.