Afghanistan says 70 Taliban Killed in Offensive
Pakistan Times Wire Service

KABUL: Afghan security forces and international troops have killed 70 Taliban rebels in a week-long push to drive the militants from a southern district, an intelligence department statement said Saturday.

Dozens of Afghan soldiers supported by military forces led by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) launched the hunt May 5 in Nari Saraj district of insurgency-hit southern Helmand province, the statement said.

Up to 70 rebels, including five militant commanders, were killed, and more than 30 others were injured, it said.

Taliban militants "are now cleared" from the area, the statement added. It did not say when the district was overrun by the rebels.

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force headquarters in Kabul was not immediately able to confirm the statement.

Helmand is one of the biggest hotspots for the ultra-Islamic Taliban movement, which was ousted from government by US-led forces in late 2001 after the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington.

The rebels have seized several districts where policing is thin over the past year, but have, in most cases, been driven out within days or weeks, often with heavy militant casualties.

However, up to 30 civilians were killed when US-led warplanes bombed Sangin district some 25 kilometers (15 miles) from Nari Saraj earlier this week, according to Afghan officials.●