KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan and NATO-led forces killed or wounded scores of Taliban insurgents in a joint air and ground operation in southern Afghanistan, the Afghan Defence Ministry said on Sunday.
The Defence Ministry did not give an exact number ofmilitants killed in the latest clash near the town of DehRawood in the southern province of Uruzgan on Saturday, butAfghan security sources said nearly 50 Taliban fighters haddied.
"The bodies of the militants are on the grounds and MullahHashim a well-known commander of the group was among thosekilled," the Defence Ministry said in a statement.
NATO forces in Uruzgan are under the command of Dutchtroops.
Elsewhere in the south, a mine killed two soldiers from theU.S.-led coalition in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar,a U.S. military statement said.
"Coalition forces, along with Afghan National SecurityForces, were conducting a security patrol in the ZharmiDistrict, when their vehicle struck a mine placed on afrequently travelled road", said the statement, issued late onSaturday.
Taliban insurgents planted hundreds of mines and roadsidebombs in 2007, contributing to a record year of violence thatkilled more than 6,000 people, nearly 2,000 of them civilians.
More than 200 foreign troops were killed in Afghanistan in2007 while nearly 30 troops from the U.S.-led coalition andNATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) havebeen killed since so far this year.
Taliban rebels are mainly active in southern and easternparts of Afghanistan that share long borders with neighbouringPakistan. Afghan officials have repeatedly claim thatinsurgents are trained, equipped, funded and have safe havensin other side of the border.
Afghan and NATO forces both say they need more troops tofight off a revived Taliban insurgency. The United States ispressing its NATO allies to come up with more troops andtrainers for Afghan forces at a summit in early April.
(Writing by Hamid Shalizi; Editing by Bill Tarrant)
