By DPA,
Kabul : At least 20 Taliban militants including foreign fighters were killed and 14 others wounded in western Afghanistan, while five policemen and a child were killed in separate incidents, officials said Saturday.
The operation started in Seya Jangal area in western Farah province after militants attacked a convoy of Afghan and coalition forces, damaging a military tank, but causing no casualties, Abdul Raouf Ahmadi, spokesman for the police forces in western region said.
Police pinpointed the area and called in coalition aircraft to pound the insurgent positions, Ahamdi said, adding, “Twenty Taliban were killed and 14 others were wounded in both ground and air raids.”
“Our forces found dead bodies of Pakistani and Arab fighters among the dead militants,” Ahmadi claimed. He said no Afghan or coalition forces were killed or wounded in the operation.
Ahmadi also said no civilians were hurt as the residents of bombed houses were forced out by the insurgents so that they could use them as their military positions.
Meanwhile, five policemen were killed in a roadside attack in Saroza district of south-eastern Paktika province Friday, Mohammad Akram Khepilwak, provincial governor said.
Khepilwak said a police vehicle was also destroyed in the attack that took place on the highway in the district.
In another incident, one Afghan child was killed and two others were wounded when Taliban attacked a convoy of NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in eastern Kunar province Friday, the alliance said in a statement.
“Insurgents attacked the soldiers and surrounding civilian areas with small-arms and heavy machine guns,” the statement said, and claimed that no soldiers were harmed in the attack.
More than 2,600 people – mostly insurgents – have been killed in violence so far this year, according to officials.