World

Taleban 'cleared from Kandahar'

by Sanjay Jha | June 19, 2008 at 02:53 am

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After staging a coup of Jail raid more than 350 Taleban fighters had escaped with other intimates from a prison in Kandhar. Now Afghan forces have claimed to capture or clear the area form Taleban. Taleban which draws its power from south of country is still very active.

A senior Afghan official says Nato and Afghan forces have cleared out Taleban militants from the outskirts of the southern city of Kandahar.

Kandahar governor Assadullah Khalid told reporters that Taleban fighters had fled Arghandab district.

He said the Taleban had suffered heavy casualties in the fighting. Nato has not confirmed the report.

Hundreds of people fled their homes in Arghandab district ahead of fighting between troops and militants

The BBC's Martin Patience in Kabul says the Afghan government is under pressure to prove its effectiveness in dealing with militants in Kandahar after hundreds of militants escaped from a jail there last week.

Nato spokesman Mark Laity told the Associated Press news agency that the military operation in Kandahar was progressing "methodically and successfully" and meeting very little resistance.

He confirmed some overnight airstrikes by Nato planes in the area, and said he did not have casualty figures.

Governor Assadullah Khalid, however said the Taleban had "suffered hundreds of dead and wounded and many of their casualties are Pakistanis".