NATO chief claims Afghan success as bombers strike

A TOP NATO general said yesterday that an offensive aimed at driving Taliban militants from their safe havens in southern Afghanistan has been “successfully completed”, even as suicide bombers struck military convoys, wounding six soldiers.

Lieutenant General David Richards, head of the 20,000 NATO-led force in Afghanistan, said the insurgents have been forced out of the volatile former Taliban heartland and reconstruction and development efforts there would soon begin.

Alliance officials have said more than 500 militants were killed during the two-week operation, centred mainly in Panjwai, Pashmul and Zhari districts of southern Kandahar province.