By DPA
Kabul : US-led coalition air strikes killed a dozen Taliban fighters in Arghandab district of southern Zabul province of Afghanistan overnight, officials said Wednesday.
Afghan and coalition forces called for air support after reports that a group of more than 20 Taliban rebels were preparing to ambush a combat patrol near a village in the district, said a military statement released from the US base in Bagram.
“Afghan forces called in coalition close-air support to strike the insurgents before they launch their attempted ambush,” said the statement.
The coalition aircraft used precision-guided munitions and machine-gun fire to eliminate the insurgent threat, it added.
The statement quoted the Afghan forces as saying the surviving insurgents fled the area.
“No Afghan or coalition soldiers were killed or injured in the combat,” said the statement.
Nearly 245 Taliban fighters have been killed in the joint operations by the Afghan and coalition forces in Kandahar and Zabul provinces since Aug 27, it added.
“It appears that the enemies of peace and stability may be planning to use the holy month of Ramadan as an opportunity to conduct violent acts against the innocent people of Afghanistan,” said Major Chris Belcher, spokesman for the Combined Joint Task Force 82.
A rebel spokesman, Qari Ahmad Yousufi, said Tuesday, “From the first day of Ramadan, we are launching a military operation by the name of NASRAT, meaning success,”
“Mullah Biradar, a close aid of Mullah Omar, leader of the Taliban, will lead this operation,” he added.
Clashes between Taliban rebels and Afghan government troops and their international military allies have intensified in the past several weeks. More than 4,400 people – most of them insurgents – have been killed in the violence so far this year.