More than 30 rebel fighters were killed in southern Afghanistan early on Sunday, a police chief said, as the Nato force announced it had killed “a significant number” of Taliban leaders.
The rebels were killed in a military sweep involving foreign forces in the southern province of Ghazni, provincial police commander Alishah Ahmadzai said. “We have seen the bodies on the battlefield,” he said.
His toll could not be independently verified. Nato’s International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) and the separate United States-led coalition said they did not have information about the operation.
Eleven other rebels were captured and 18 wounded in the sweep that moved through villages along a key highway in the province, Ahmadzai said.
Taliban spokesperson Yousuf Ahmadi confirmed there had been a military operation in the area and said it involved the use of air power. His death toll was much lower.
Isaf announced separately that “a significant number of Taliban extremist leaders were successfully targeted and killed in a precision air strike last night in southern Afghanistan”.
The men were gathered in a remote area, it said in a statement.
“Initial assessments indicate all of those who died were enemy insurgents.”
It would not give the location of the strike or identify the “rebel leaders” targeted.
“Combined with the recent demise of Mullah Dadullah, this strike will, in the short term, push the enemy into confusion and disarray,” Isaf spokesperson Major John Thomas said.
Dadullah, the Taliban’s top military strategist, was killed in a foreign and Afghan operation on May 11. — AFP