More than 70 Taliban guerrillas have been killed in fighting with Nato and Afghan forces in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar, a provincial police official said on Sunday.
Four police officers were also killed in the battle in Panjwai district, to the south-west of Kandahar city, Panjwai police chief Neyaz Mohammad Sarhadi said. “So far, we’ve recovered the bodies of 72 Taliban,” Sarhadi said.
The battle erupted late on Saturday after hundreds of Taliban attacked the district government headquarters, he said. Nato aircraft were also involved in the fighting in the district where clashes have erupted regularly since May when hundreds of Taliban were found to have infiltrated the area.
“It was fierce fighting and lasted until early this morning,” Sarhadi said.
A spokesperson for Nato troops, Major Scott Lundy, said the Taliban suffered significant casualties. He said the Nato force did not suffer any losses.
The Taliban could not be reached for comment, but the guerrillas have in the past rejected death tolls issued by Afghan and foreign forces.
Afghanistan is going through its worst phase of violence since United States-led troops overthrew a Taliban government in 2001. More than 1 800 people have been killed in violence this year, most of them militants but including more than 90 foreign troops.
Four foreign soldiers were killed in two separate clashes on Saturday.
Most of the violence has been concentrated in the south where Nato assumed responsibility for security from a separate US-led force last month.
The Nato mission, the biggest ground operation in the alliance’s history, should allow the US military to trim the size of its Afghan force.
US-led forces overthrew the Taliban in late 2001 after they refused to hand over al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden following the September 11 attacks on the US.