By Ismail Sameem
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - The Afghan army launchedan operation on Wednesday to drive Taliban insurgents fromvillages on the outskirts of Kandahar city in the south , thedefence ministry said, but gave no details.
NATO and Afghan forces had massed troops and beefed up airpower in Kandahar this week, readying for a showdown with thehundreds of militants dug in on the city's northern outskirts.
Some 600 Taliban insurgents took over the villages inArghandab district on Monday, days after freeing hundreds ofinmates in a bold attack on the main jail in Kandahar city.
On Tuesday, a Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousuf saidmilitants had set their sights on Kandahar itself, themovement's birthplace, which lies about 20 km (12 miles) fromArghandab.
Thousands of families have fled Arghandab since Monday,when NATO warned that an operation would be staged to flush outthe Taliban from the district, said Agha Lalai, a member ofKandahar's provincial council and a tribal chief of Arghandab.
Colonel Jamie Cade, deputy commander of Task ForceKandahar, was quoted in a NATO statement as saying there wereno obvious signs of insurgent activity in Kandahar city and "itis clear that Kandahar city remains firmly under the control ofthe Afghan government and its people".
Witnesses said checkpoints had been set up on many keyroads leading into the city. They said reconnaissance flightsheaded for Arghandab could be heard for much of Tuesday night.
Several key roads leading to major government installationswere blocked and a group of NATO soldiers stationed inKandahar's sports stadium, witnesses said.
The defence ministry have flown in a battalion from Kabulto join Afghan troops and units from NATO's InternationalSecurity Assistance Force ahead of the operation, Afghanofficials say.
CANADIAN ROLE
Captain Mike Finney, chief public affairs officer for ISAFin Kabul, said Canadian soldiers were backing the offensive.
Finney said no air support had been used so far in theoperation and troops had yet to sight large numbers of Talibanfighters. "There have been only small engagements with a smallnumber of insurgents so far," he said.
The defence ministry says that at least eight villages hadbeen taken by the Taliban who, according to some escapees, hadplanted land mines to deter attempts to expel them.
Capture of the villages is part of the militants' latestshow of power in Afghanistan, which is suffering its worstspell of violence since 2001 when the Taliban were ousted frompower.
The austere Islamist movement emerged from religiousschools on the Pakistani border in Kandahar in the early 1990sand began their takeover of the country from the province,where they enjoy support.
The militants, who suffered heavy casualties inconventional past battles, have switched recently to operatingin small groups, according to analysts.
The latest flare-up comes despite the presence inAfghanistan of more than 60,000 foreign troops under thecommand of the U.S. military and NATO, as well as about 150,000Afghan soldiers.
(Writing by Sayed Salahuddin; Editing by Valerie Lee)
