US jets bombed a Taliban base in the mountains of southern Afghanistan yesterday, killing as many as 50 fighters.
The assault followed an upsurge in attacks during the last fortnight in which suspected Taliban loyalists have killed up to 100 people, including dozens of Afghan government soldiers.
More than 1 000 Afghan troops were also brought in for yesterday’s operation, the largest against the Taliban in nearly a year.
Local officials said last night that the base in the Dai Chopan district of Zabul province had been overrun and the Taliban were fleeing.
”We have seen 40 to 50 dead bodies,” Hamdullah Watandost, a spokesman for the provincial governor, told Reuters.
”Our mopping-up operation continues and we have besieged the entire Taliban force, who have no way to escape.”
US military officials said 14 Taliban had been killed in Operation Warrior Sweep. There were no reports of US casualties.
Mohammed Hanif, a spokesman for the Taliban, said that most of the fighters had escaped, and many civilians had been killed. ”It was a massive force of the government who wanted to kill and arrest the Taliban, but they were not successful,” he said.
If the higher death toll for the Taliban is confirmed, it would be their biggest setback for many months and a rare success for the US-backed government of Hamid Karzai, which has been hunting the remnants of the former regime for nearly two years.
Taliban fighters, who fled when the regime collapsed in 2001, are believed to have regrouped in Pakistan. – Guardian Unlimited Â