US-led attack kills 76 in Afghanistan

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - US-led forces in Afghanistan killed more than 60 Taleban fighters and 16 civilians in attacks on their strongholds in the south on Monday, the governor of Kandahar province said.

The ground and air offensive came after several days of some of the heaviest Taleban attacks since they were ousted in 2001 and just as NATO is bringing thousands of extra troops into the country.

"More than 60 Taleban have been killed and many wounded. Sixteen civilians have also died and 15 are hurt," the governor of Kandahar, Khalid Assadullah, told a news conference.

The civilians were killed in air strikes after Taleban took positions in their homes in Panjwai district of Kandahar, he said.

The US military said 20 Taleban had been confirmed killed and up to 60 other insurgents were possibly dead. It did not say how many US-led troops were involved in the offensive.

It said ground troops were checking reports of civilian casualties.

Fighting intensified sharply last Wednesday when the Taleban attacked a town in Helmand province, west of Kandahar. At the same time, foreign and Afghan forces launched a sweep in Panjwai to clear Taleban massing 25 km from Kandahar town.

More than 200 people have been killed since then - more than the number reported killed in Iraq during the same period - according to figures from the US military and Afghan authorities.

Most of the dead were militants but included dozens of Afghan police and troops and four foreign soldiers.

The Taleban have not managed to capture and hold territory but ever larger swathes of the south and east are off limits to government and aid workers at a time the government should be pushing its authority and development work into the countryside.

Taleban denial

A spokesman for the Taleban, who are fighting to expel foreign troops and oust the government, said no Taleban were killed on Monday. All casualties were civilians, he said.

Assadullah said the civilians were killed in air strikes because Taleban were firing from their homes. "The Taleban used people's houses as their trenches. They were killed in the bombardment," he said.

The US military said it only attacked places where Taleban were known to be. "Coalition forces must retain their ability to defend against fire emanating from known enemy positions."

Some of wounded civilians were brought to Kandahar's main hospital. A wounded boy, Daad Mohammad, said all seven members of his family were killed.

The surge in violence comes as NATO is expanding its peacekeeping force from 9,000 to 16,000, in preparation for taking over security responsibilities in the south from US-led forces.

The United States, which had been hoping to cut its Afghan force to 16,500, has 23,000 troops in Afghanistan, the highest number since 2001.

Foreign military officials say the Taleban and their drug-gang allies want to disrupt NATO's expansion into ungoverned parts of the south.

The Taleban were ousted in late 2001 after refusing to hand over al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

- REUTERS