US airstrikes in Afghanistan have surged in the past three months as fighting has spread, the Washington Post reported yesterday.
Washington carried out 340 airstrikes in that time frame, "more than twice the 160 carried out in the much higher-profile war in Iraq," the report said, citing the US military headquarters for the Middle East.
The report also said the the airstrikes "appear to have increased in recent days as the United States and its allies have launched counteroffensives against the Taliban in the south and southeast, strafing and bombing a stronghold in Uruzgan province and pounding an area near Khost with 500 pound [255kg] bombs."
Many of the airstrikes have been conducted with aircraft ranging from B-52 bombers to small Predator drones, the Post added.
Ten Taliban were killed in fresh fighting in Afghanistan, officials said on Saturday, taking the rebel death toll to around 100 since a major new military operation was made public three days ago.
Seven died in the southern province of Kandahar, where the Taliban rose to take control of the government in 1996, in the hours-long gunfight that erupted after rebels stormed a district government office at midnight.
Afterwards, "the Taliban fled, leaving the seven bodies at the site," interior ministry spokesman Yousuf Stanizai said. "One police was also martyred and one was wounded in the several hours' fighting."
Three more Taliban were killed in neighboring Helmand Province late on Friday.
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