US-supported troops kill eight suspected Taliban

US-BACKED Afghan troops killed eight suspected Taliban and captured 15 others in fighting against extremists holed up in the Torghar mountains of southern Afghanistan, the US military said yesterday.

Pro-government militia forces mounted a fresh offensive nearby.

“Afghan militia forces accompanied by a US Special Forces detachment cleared the areas of Torghar mountains yesterday,” Colonel Roger King told reporters at Bagram Air Base 50km north of Kabul.

“Eight enemy were killed in action and Afghan forces have taken 15 persons under control,” King said. “As far as we know they were Taliban.”

One Afghan soldier was killed and three wounded while, there were no US casualties. The Torghar mountains are north of the town of Spin Boldak in Kandahar province close to the border with Pakistan.

On the mountains the troops found improved fighting positions, previously occupied caves, two

machineguns and ammunition, explosive devices, bomb- making materials, two trucks and two motorcycles, according to the colonel.

In a new offensive in the adjacent Haba mountains, Afghan militia forces on Thursday killed 20 suspected Taliban.

“Following the interrogation of suspects captured in the operation north of Kandahar we identified a new base in the Haba mountains,” said Gul Agha, governor of the southern province of Kandahar.

Last week Agha launched operations against suspected Taliban north of Kandahar city following the murder of Red Cross worker Ricardo Munguia, a Salvadoran national.

Kandahar was the heartland of the hardline Taliban militia until it was ousted by US-led forces in late 2001 following the September 11 attacks masterminded by al-Qaida.

Around 11,500 coalition troops, including 8,500 US forces, are engaged in hunting down al-Qaida and Taliban remnants, mostly in southern and eastern Afghanistan.