Key Taliban leaders killed in Nato operation

Several key Taliban leaders and about 50 fighters have been killed in Afghanistan in an ongoing operation launched last week to clear militants from the country’s violence-plagued south, officials said today.

Early indications are that Taliban fighters “are not fighting particularly hard, don’t know what to do, but are leaving the area,” said Brig. Richard E. Nugee, the chief spokesman for Nato’s International Security Assistance Force.