Afghanistan: Allied forces claim to kill 100 Taliban

Allied forces claim to kill 100 Taliban in Afghanistan Sunday, July 27, 2008 - KABUL: Up to 100 Taliban were killed in Afghanistan early Sunday when helicopter gunships and ground fighting retaliated an attack by about 100 rebels.The Taliban fighters had tried to capture the Spera district centre, 15 kilometres (nine miles) from the border with Pakistan, opening fire on police at about 2:00 am with guns and rocket-propelled grenades, the NATO force said.Police and soldiers from NATO's International Security Assistance Force surrounded the attackers and called air strikes consisting of heavy machinegun fire from helicopters, an ISAF statement said."Some insurgents attempted to take cover in a nearby building that helicopters then struck with missiles. "ANP (Afghan National Police) and ISAF continued to engage the insurgents in a firefight from the ground and air until the early morning hours," it said.The number of insurgents killed was in the "double-digit figures," ISAF said.The provincial governor of Khost, which includes Spera, put the attackers' death toll at between 50 and 70."They had killed one policeman in the initial attack and had captured another officer who was later beheaded," governor Arsala Jamal said."As they retreated, international military air forces came in and bombed them. Fifty to 70 Taliban have been killed," Jamal said.The rebels were able to get "very close" to the district headquarters in Spera before the air forces arrived, the governor said.The air strikes were later halted to avoid civilian casualties after the militants moved into villages, he said."We could have killed more Taliban if they had not entered the villages. Those of them killed were targeted while massing in an area outside the villages," he said.