24 taliban militants killed as Nato prepares for power grab

US-led coalition forces and Afghan police killed 20 suspected Taliban in the latest fighting to hit southern Afghanistan, as NATO today prepared to take command in the insurgency-wracked region.

In other violence, four more militants died when landmines they were planting on roads in southern Kandahar province exploded, an Afghan official said.

Tomorrow the US anti-terror coalition is due to formally hand over control of security operations to a NATO-led force that has deployed about 8,000 mostly British, Canadian and Dutch troops into the south.

The deployment has coincided with the deadliest upsurge in fighting since US-backed forces ousted the Taliban regime in late 2001 for hosting Osama bin Laden, mastermind of the September 11 attacks on America.

On Saturday, a joint force of coalition and Afghan troops, backed by “lethal” air power, killed 20 suspected Taliban militants who had attempted an ambush in Shahidi Hassas district of Uruzgan province, a coalition statement said.

There were no casualties among coalition or Afghan forces, it said.

In Kandahar province, three militants blew themselves up on Saturday as they laid an explosive on a road in Arghistan district of Kandahar province, said Daoud Ahmadi, a spokesman for the provincial governor.

Then early today, another suspected Taliban died when a landmine he was planting on a road in Shah Wali Kot district north of Kandahar city exploded, Ahmadi said.

Taliban-led fighters have escalated roadside bombings and suicide attacks this year, and have also mounted brazen attacks on several small towns and district police stations – a tactic rarely seen in the previous four years.

International forces, backed by Afghan army, have meted out a tough response.

Afghan Defence Ministry spokesman Gen Zahir Azimi said a 50-day operation, dubbed Mountain Thrust, has resulted in the deaths of at least 613 militants. Some 87 others were wounded and about 300 arrested, he said.

Azimi said between 13 and 16 civilians had also died.

NATO brings a new strategy to dealing with the Taliban rebellion: establishing bases rather than chasing militants, and is hoping to win the support of local people by creating secure zones where development can take place.

But questions remain whether they can quell the violence enough to allow aid workers to get to work in a lawless and impoverished region, where about a quarter of Afghanistan’s huge opium crop is grown, and the narcotics trade fuels the insurgency.

Azimi dismissed concern that there would be insufficient troops on the ground. He said the Afghan army would maintain three brigades of about 3,000 troops in the southern provinces of Kandahar, Helmand and Zabul, supporting the NATO forces.