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Afghan airstrike kills 22 militants

by Sanjay Jha | June 25, 2008 at 01:23 am

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In a major offensive Nato forces have killed more than 22 Taleban militants in an airstrike. They were fighting on the ground and falling back on Iraq style guerrilla tactics including road side bombings.

Coalition airstrikes killed 22 militants who were attacking two towns in eastern Afghanistan, and explosions killed two more foreign soldiers in the south, officials said Wednesday. Fighting between Taliban-led militants and security forces is surging, clouding hopes that the six-year, multibillion-dollar effort to stabilize the country will succeed any time soon.

The U.S.-led coalition said Afghan police called for help when insurgents armed with rockets and guns attacked government offices in the Sarobi and Gomal districts of Paktika province on Tuesday night.

"When coalition air support arrived, the 22 militants who attacked the district centers were positively identified and killed," a coalition statement said.

Ghamai Khan Mohammadyar, spokesman for the provincial governor, said police had counted the bodies of 22 "enemy fighters" on the battlefield. He said no Afghan forces were killed and claimed that the surviving militants had fled toward the Pakistani border.