A joint Afghan-NATO operation in a volatile region in the country's dangerous south has killed 40 Taliban, including the Taliban's leader in that region, a government official said on Monday. The operation in the Nad Ali and Murja districts of Helmand province began on Thursday and continued through Monday, said Dawood Ahmadi, spokesman for Helmand's governor. Ahmadi said that 40 Taliban had died in the operation, though he said that government officials had recovered only seven bodies, which were given to tribal elders for burial. Ahmadi said the government knows that another 33 fighters were killed through intelligence sources. Commander James Gater, a spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force, confirmed that a joint operation in Helmand was under way. He said he had no casualty figures he could release.
Among the dead was Mullah Salim, a Taliban leader who was the head of the their council in the two districts, Ahmadi said. The councils, also called shuras, are sometimes referred to as shadow government structures that operate separately from the Afghan government. Afghan officials admitted that they had little control in many areas of northern Helmand, a poppy-growing region that is heavily infiltrated by the Taliban.
Troops: Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Monday around 300 extra troops had been sent to Afghanistan to bolster NATO forces fighting the Taliban in the south of the country. "The defence secretary and I have decided on advice from the defence chief, to approve until August, including the period of preparation for the Afghan elections, an increase in the number of British troops deployed to Afghanistan from just over 8,000 to around 8,300," Brown told parliament. The extra 300 British troops were alluded to by government and military sources when Brown travelled to Afghanistan.