By Xinhua
Kabul : Air raids carried out against Taliban insurgents in central Afghan province of Ghazni have left 15 rebels including two of their commanders dead, provincial police chief Alishah Ahmadzai said Thursday.
“Acting on intelligence service received by the US-led coalition forces, aircrafts targeted a hideout of Taliban fighters in Gilan district Wednesday killing 15 insurgents including their commanders Mullah Mohiudin and Mullah Shafaq,” Ahmadzai said.
He also added that Arab nationals had also been identified among the dead.
In Uruzgan province of central Afghanistan, security forces engaged and killed several Taliban fighters near the Tarin Kowt Thursday, said an official statement.
“The combined force was conducting a reconnaissance patrol to protect the establishment of an Afghan security checkpoint when they surprised Taliban fighters setting up mortar positions,” said the statement.
Meanwhile, Afghan troops and the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) launched a joint operation against militants in the central Afghan province of Ghazni, said media reports Thursday.
The operation got underway Thursday in Taliban-infested Qarabagh district of Ghazni, said the Outlook Afghanistan newspaper quoting Ahmadzai.
“The sweep is aimed at clearing the troubled district of insurgents,” Ahmadzai said.
In Qarabagh, where kidnappings and shootings have been on the increase, the current sweep followed two similar operations carried out by Afghan and ISAF troops during the last three months.
Violence in Afghanistan has claimed over 5,400 lives, mostly Taliban insurgents, so far this year.