By Xinhua,
Kabul : Afghan troops, backed by NATO air strike, eliminated 16 Taliban militants and wounded 9 more in Uruzgan province of southern Afghanistan on Tuesday morning, an official said.
Juma Gul Humat, provincial police chief, told Xinhua that Afghan troops at local time 2 a.m. carried out an operation after receiving intelligence reports that a group of Taliban insurgents were gathering in a private garden in Trin Kot district of Uruzgan province.
“Afghan forces engaged with Taliban militants and called in airstrike support of NATO-led International Security Assistance Force(ISAF), killing over 16 militants and wounding nine others,” Humat said.
He added two of the wounded were arrested on the spot and fighting has not inflicted any civilian casualty.
“The further investigation is going on in the fighting area,” he noted.
Taliban militants fighting the Afghan government and international troops have yet to make any comment.
Taliban insurgents who staged a violent comeback three years ago have intensified their activities targeting Afghan and international troops across Afghanistan to mount pressure on the government despite around 70,000 foreign troops stationed in the war-torn country.
Conflicts and spiraling insurgency have claimed the lives of over 3,700 people with more than 800 civilians, so far this year.