Afghan and US troops backed by warplanes have killed up to 46 Taliban guerrillas in southwestern Afghanistan in some of the bloodiest fighting in months, officials said today.
They said five members of the Afghan security forces had also been killed and five US soldiers wounded in the operation to suppress a surge in guerrilla violence in the run-up to September 18 parliamentary elections.
The fighting was part of a search and attack operation codenamed "Catania" to destroy guerrilla sanctuaries, said Lieutenant Cindy Moore, a spokeswoman for the US military.
It was continuing about 16 km north of Mian Nishin, a district capital in the northern part of Kandahar province that was overrun by guerrillas last week and retaken by government forces on Tuesday, Kandahar's deputy police chief, General Salim Khan, told journalists.
Moore said the fighting was southwest of Zabul province's mountainous Dai Chopan district, which borders Kandahar.
Khan said US jets and attack helicopters pounded insurgent positions today.
"Forty-six Taliban were killed and we have their dead bodies with us," he said, adding that 23 guerrillas had been captured.
Khan said the guerrillas were from the group that had taken over Mian Nishin, about 400 km southwest of Kabul, and been chased out by Afghan troops yesterday.
Moore said US A-10 "Tankbuster" aircraft, British Harrier jets and US AH-64 Apache attack helicopters had taken part in yesterday's offensive.
"Coalition warplanes and attack helicopters hammered enemy positions throughout the evening," she said.
"Initial battle damage assessments estimate approximately 40 enemy killed in the fighting," she said, adding that the air strikes were launched after US-led ground forces came under attack from small-arms and rocket-propelled grenades.