Thirty-five Taliban killed in Afghan operation

KABUL: As Afghans await the results of a fraud-tainted election, a heavy death toll from clashes and bombs, including 35 Taliban and a child, served as a reminder of the challenges the next president faces.In operations mostly concentrated in the south and the east of the country, Afghan security forces, backed by international troops, on Sunday claimed success against an increasingly virulent enemy.The Taliban’s anti-government campaign escalated in the months leading up to the Aug 20 elections for president and provincial councillors, affecting turnout and threatening the legitimacy of the outcome.Gunmen on Sunday shot an election official in the city of Kandahar – the scene of a massive bombing last week that killed more than 40 people.A spokesman for the Independent Election Commission said the IEC’s Kandahar operations manager, Sharaf-u-Din, was injured when men on a motorbike shot him in front of his house.The IEC has been releasing the results of the election piecemeal, with the latest returns announced on Saturday showing President Hamid Karzai leading with 46.3 per cent against 31.4 per cent for his nearest rival Abdullah Abdullah.Western allies have been dismayed at the extent of vote-rigging complaints, but statements by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown during a Saturday visit to Afghanistan indicate firm commitment to fighting the Taliban.Mr Brown pledged to speed up the training of Afghan security forces to battle the militancy, which would allow an eventual draw down of international troops.Western governments have more than 100,000 troops in Afghanistan under Nato and US command, working with Afghan security forces to quell the Taliban resistance.Late on Saturday in eastern Khost province, bodies scattered the ground after a huge joint operation in the Spera district in which paratroopers dropped into battle from helicopters, police said.Provincial police chief Abdul Qayoum Bakizoi said one Afghan soldier was killed in the operation that left 35 Taliban fighters dead.In neighbouring Paktika province, which also borders Pakistan’s tribal region, Afghan and Nato troops destroyed a bunker complex used by the Haqqani network to store arms and shelter foreign fighters, officials said on Sunday.The troops were backed by helicopters in a battle on Friday that lasted 24 hours and resulted in the deaths of ‘a large number of enemy militants,’ the defence ministry and Nato said in a joint statement.In the operation, which took place in an isolated mountain region of Urgun district, the joint force under Nato command ‘engaged small arms fire from hostile militants’, it said.‘The force killed a large number of hostile militants and recovered multiple anti-aircraft artillery pieces, two heavy machineguns, two light machineguns, several assault rifles,... ammunition and communications gear.‘The force destroyed the bunker complex and all enemy weaponry in place,’ it said.The Haqqani network is a powerful group based in Pakistan’s lawless tribal belt closely linked to Al Qaeda and known for its ruthless and sophisticated attacks, including an assassination attempt on Mr Karzai in 2008.The Afghan interior ministry and deputy police chief of Kandahar province said seven civilians, including a child, were killed and another nine injured when their cars hit concealed roadside bombs on Saturday and Sunday. — AFP