At least 27 militants were killed in military operations across insurgency-hit Afghanistan, authorities said today, while villagers reported that 10 civilians died in rebel gunfire. The bloodshed in clashes yesterday underscored a deterioration in security this year that has led to new emphasis on a political solution to a Taliban-led insurgency launched after the extremist regime was toppled in 2001.
The claim of the heavy civilian death toll in Uruzgan province yesterday could not be independently verified because of the remoteness of the area. Afghan and international troops were on patrol when they were attacked with guns, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades (RPG), a statement from the US Forces in Afghanistan said. "ANSF (Afghan National Security Forces) and coalition forces responded to the attack with small-arms, RPG and supporting fire, killing 12 militants," it stated.
"Local Afghan villagers told ANSF and coalition forces that militant fire killed 10 Afghan civilians in a nearby village." The provincial governor Assadullah Hamdam, however, quoted a lower toll of six and said victims died when a rocket aimed at the troops missed its target and hit a civilian house. "As our combined troops were passing by the area the enemies fired a rocket at it. The rocket missed the troops and hit a home, killing six civilians including women and children," he said.
Several other people were injured in the attack in the province's Shahid-i-Ihsas district, he said, without being able to give an exact figure. The governor said his information had come from "local officials". The coalition statement said three women and six children were taken to an international military hospital for treatment for injuries from the rebel attack. No casualties to the troops were reported, it added.
In separate unrest, troops killed nine rebels in the southern province of Helmand, a stronghold for the Taliban militia which has been fighting to make a comeback since being driven from government in 2001. "ANSF and coalition forces manoeuvred on the enemy position and returned fire using small arms, RPG (rocket-propelled grenades) and close air support, killing nine militants," the US-led coalition said in a statement.
The Afghan defence ministry, meanwhile, said combined forces had killed six militants in an operation in Farah province's Bakwa district. In another incident, a militant died when a mine he was planting exploded on a road in Khost province on the border with Pakistan, the ministry said. Afghanistan violence - rooted in the insurgency, extremism, crime and the drugs trade - has climbed steadily since the Oct 7 2001 launch of the US-led invasion that drove the Taliban from government.
The United Nations says security has "deteriorated markedly" in Afghanistan in recent months. More than 3,800 lives were lost in insurgency-related violence to the end of July, with a third of the dead civilians, it says. *AFP
