The US military along with Afghan security forces backed by war planes killed nearly two dozen insurgents in a clash in southern Afghanistan at the weekend, the US side said Monday. The troops called in air support after militants attacked their patrol in Uruzgan province on Sunday, US military spokeswoman Captain Elizabeth Mathias told AFP.
"Twenty-three militants were killed," she said, adding that three coalition soldiers were wounded in the gunfight. "This was not a planned operation - they were engaged out on a patrol," she added. Islamist rebels, mainly from the Taliban extremist group which was in power between 1996 and 2001, are waging an insurgency which has become increasingly violent in recent weeks, according to officials.
Afghan Interior Minister Mohammad Anif Atmar said Sunday that the number of rebel attacks had increased by about 40 percent in the past week, as compared with the week before. The week of violence left 48 civilians, 30 policemen and 176 rebels dead, he told reporters. US General Stanley McChrystal took command of US- and Nato-led troops in Afghanistan on Monday, tasked with carrying out a new US strategy to bring new impetus to the battle against the insurgents.
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