Scores killed in Afghan battles

12/10/2008| IslamWeb

At least 64 Taliban fighters have been killed in fierce fighting with international coalition forces in southern Afghanistan, officials said.

 

The Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) said the fighting erupted after armed Taliban members attacked an Afghan security force base on the outskirts of the town of Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province.

 

Isaf said the attack took place on Saturday.

 

According to Afghan authorities, the fighting started at around midnight and lasted for approximately three hours.

 

Al Jazeera's Dan Nolan, reporting from Kabul, said that an Afghan official based in Lashkar Gah described the attack as the "worst fighting he's ever seen in the town".

 

Daud Ahmadi, a spokesman for the Helmand government, said 64 Taliban fighters were killed.

 

But his death toll could not be verified independently and journalists are not able to travel to the remote and dangerous battle sites.

 

Afghan officials have been known to exaggerate death tolls in the past.

 

District retaken

 

In a second battle in Helmand province, Afghan and international troops retook the Nad Ali district centre - which had been held by fighters - during a three-day fight, Ahmadi said.

 

That battle, which also involved air strikes, ended on Saturday.

 

Afghan police and soldiers were now in control of the district centre. There were no casualties among Afghan or Nato troops, Ahmadi said.

 

Nato said its aircraft bombed fighters after they were seen gathering for a major attack, killing "multiple enemy forces".

 

"If the fighters planned a spectacular attack prior to the winter, this was a spectacular failure," Richard Blanchette, an Isaf spokesman, said.

 

Helmand province is the largest drug-producing area in the world, and the region alone accounts for more than half of Afghanistan's production of opium poppies.

 

The violence has killed more than 4,700 people this year, according to an Associated Press tally of figures from Western and Afghan officials.

 

PHOTO CAPTION

 

Afghanistan map locating Helmand province

 

Al-Jazeera