Taliban try to flee southern Afghanistan fighting

Nato airstrikes and artillery have killed a further 92 suspected Taliban fighters, the alliance reported today, pushing its toll of militant dead in a 10-day offensive past 500.

The latest deaths came when insurgents staged a counter-attack in Kandahar province yesterday, a Nato statement said. It added that the casualties in the province’s Panjwayi and Zhari districts were in addition to 94 militants it had already reported as dying in a clash earlier.