TMCnet News
41 militants, 6 police killed in fighting in S. Afghanistan+(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)KABUL, April 15_(Kyodo) _ At least 41 suspected Taliban militants and six Afghan police officers were killed in a 24-hour gun battle after Afghan forces, backed by U.S.-led coalition helicopters, attacked a suspected Taliban hideout in southern Afghanistan, officials said Saturday. The coalition and Afghan forces attacked a suspected Taliban hideout in the Sangsar area west of Kandahar Province early Friday, based on intelligence information indicating suspected Taliban militants were gathering there to plan attacks on Kandahar, said Obaidullah, a provincial spokesman, via telephone. "The bodies of 41 suspected militants have been recovered so far" he said. An Interior Ministry spokesman said six police officers died and nine were wounded in the fighting. Suspected Taliban militants have launched several suicide attacks and bomb blasts in recent months on the U.S-led coalition and Afghan troops in Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taliban. |