US and Afghan troops searched villages and caves for Taliban fugitives in the southern province of Zabul yesterday after up to 50 fighters were killed in a chase involving US jets, a police official said.
Groups of US special forces and 450 Afghan troops launched a joint operation in the Dai Chopan district on Monday after officials said about 600 Taliban were in the area, the biggest concentration since the regime's fall in 2001.
"There is occasional sporadic shelling today," Juma Khan, police chief of Dai Chopan, said. "The fighting has come to an end and we are conducting house-to-house, village-to-village and cave-to-cave searches for Taliban."
He believed the majority of Taliban fighters had fled into neighboring districts. US fighter jets were in the air supporting the sweep, he added.
Officials said the Taliban had lost up to 50 fighters in the action, but Khalid Pashtun, director of foreign affairs in the southwest of the country, said the death toll was only 15.
Dozens of Taliban were also arrested and weapons confiscated, Pashtun added.
In a statement issued late on Monday, the US military said at least 14 enemy fighters died, and that US aircraft used laser-guided ammunition. It referred to clashes in Kandahar province, which borders Zabul, but appeared to be referring to the same battle.
Mullah Abdul Jabar, appointed by the Taliban as its own governor of Zabul province, said only four Taliban fighters were killed in the region on Monday.
He said by satellite telephone on Monday night from an undisclosed location that more than 25 enemy soldiers and "US agents" were killed in the fighting. The US military reported no casualties among special forces troops involved.
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