ZHARI, Afghanistan - NATO forces have recaptured territory in southern Afghanistan from Taliban insurgents during an 11-day operation that has killed at least 510 suspected militants, the alliance said Tuesday.
Security forces also killed a dozen Taliban on Tuesday and detained nearly 40 in raids aimed at quelling an insurgency so relentless that it has prompted NATO commanders to call for more troops.
Swedish and Finnish troops, meanwhile, killed a local Afghan militant leader and wounded three other armed men during a 40-minute clash Tuesday in northern Afghanistan, NATO said.
The troops, who are fighting under NATO control, were attacked with rocket-propelled grenades, small-arms fire and a roadside bomb in Boka, a village in Balkh province, the alliance said in a statement.
The Nordic troops returned fire, killing a militant known as Nematullah and wounding three insurgents. There were no NATO casualties, the statement said.
In a further sign of the poor security in the countryside, police said unidentified masked gunmen kidnapped a Colombian and two Afghan aid workers Sunday in a remote mountain region west of Kabul.
Taliban militants this year have launched their deadliest attacks since the hard-line regime was toppled by U.S.-led forces in late 2001 for hosting Osama bin Laden.
In southern Kandahar province, thousands of NATO and Afghan forces, backed by intense U.S. airstrikes, have killed at least 510 suspected Taliban holdouts, the alliance said. The campaign, called Operation Medusa, began Sept. 2.
Purported Taliban spokesmen reject the death tolls as exaggerated. Journalists have been unable to travel freely in the region because of the campaign.
NATO said Tuesday its forces have regained control of 65 percent of "contested areas" in Kandahar's neighboring Zhari and Panjwayi districts, an area of roughly 50 square miles.
Up to 1,500 families have been displaced by the fighting and were staying with relatives in safer parts of Kandahar or "living rough" in remote areas until NATO deems it safe for them to return, alliance spokesman Maj. Scott Lundy said.
Footage purportedly taken by the Taliban during the fighting showed a crater, which the narrator claimed was left after a civilian's house was hit by an airstrike.
The 41-minute video shows several groups of armed insurgents walking through remote terrain and three bodies in civilian clothing. The authenticity of the video, which was provided to Associated Press Television News, could not be immediately confirmed.
Canadian Brig. Gen. David Fraser, commander of NATO forces in southern Afghanistan, accused Taliban militants of taking shelter in residential areas.
"We try to prevent civilian casualties during our operations," Fraser told the AP during a helicopter flight to Zhari district's government office Tuesday. "We have contacts with the local leaders in the area, but Taliban are using civilian houses to conduct their activities."
In Kabul, the capital, a top American general said violence has increased in the south because of operations mounted by Afghan and foreign forces in "Taliban sanctuaries."
"Five years ago, the Afghan national army was zero," Maj. Gen. Robert Durbin, who heads the training of Afghan soldiers and police, told CNN. "We now have sufficient forces, that's why there is some tough fighting down in Kandahar."
A fierce gunbattle broke out in Ghazni province, south of Kabul, as Afghan soldiers and police, backed by U.S.-led coalition forces, fought insurgents in the mountainous Andar district, a provincial official said. Twelve militants were killed, the official said.
On Monday, a soldier from the U.S.-led coalition was killed and another injured when their Humvee rolled over in eastern Kunar province's Asadabad district, a coalition statement said.
The kidnapped aid workers are employed by an aid mission funded by France. They were seized in Wardak province's Jalrez district, police said.
Afghan and U.S. forces have made dozens of arrests in recent days, including 12 suspected Taliban detained in Wardak province Tuesday after police raided a fortified compound where they had been planning attacks, police said.
Other recent arrests:
-Nine suspects accused of helping Afghan and Pakistani militants prepare for suicide bombings were arrested Friday in eastern Logar province.
-U.S. and Afghan soldiers detained nine suspected militants belonging to the radical Hezb-e-Islami group of warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and al-Qaida, the U.S. military said. Two midlevel Hezb-e-Islami militant commanders were detained in Khost province.
-NATO said its soldiers captured seven suspected insurgents and disrupted supply and communication routes through Helmand and Kandahar.
NATO Forces Recapture Afghan Territory
ZHARI, Afghanistan - NATO forces have recaptured territory in southern Afghanistan from Taliban insurgents during an 11-day operation that has killed at least 510 suspected militants, the alliance said Tuesday.
Security forces also killed a dozen Taliban on Tuesday and detained nearly 40 in raids aimed at quelling an insurgency so relentless that it has prompted NATO commanders to call for more troops.
Swedish and Finnish troops, meanwhile, killed a local Afghan militant leader and wounded three other armed men during a 40-minute clash Tuesday in northern Afghanistan, NATO said.
The troops, who are fighting under NATO control, were attacked with rocket-propelled grenades, small-arms fire and a roadside bomb in Boka, a village in Balkh province, the alliance said in a statement.
The Nordic troops returned fire, killing a militant known as Nematullah and wounding three insurgents. There were no NATO casualties, the statement said.
In a further sign of the poor security in the countryside, police said unidentified masked gunmen kidnapped a Colombian and two Afghan aid workers Sunday in a remote mountain region west of Kabul.
Taliban militants this year have launched their deadliest attacks since the hard-line regime was toppled by U.S.-led forces in late 2001 for hosting Osama bin Laden.
In southern Kandahar province, thousands of NATO and Afghan forces, backed by intense U.S. airstrikes, have killed at least 510 suspected Taliban holdouts, the alliance said. The campaign, called Operation Medusa, began Sept. 2.
Purported Taliban spokesmen reject the death tolls as exaggerated. Journalists have been unable to travel freely in the region because of the campaign.
NATO said Tuesday its forces have regained control of 65 percent of "contested areas" in Kandahar's neighboring Zhari and Panjwayi districts, an area of roughly 50 square miles.
Up to 1,500 families have been displaced by the fighting and were staying with relatives in safer parts of Kandahar or "living rough" in remote areas until NATO deems it safe for them to return, alliance spokesman Maj. Scott Lundy said.
Footage purportedly taken by the Taliban during the fighting showed a crater, which the narrator claimed was left after a civilian's house was hit by an airstrike.
The 41-minute video shows several groups of armed insurgents walking through remote terrain and three bodies in civilian clothing. The authenticity of the video, which was provided to Associated Press Television News, could not be immediately confirmed.
Canadian Brig. Gen. David Fraser, commander of NATO forces in southern Afghanistan, accused Taliban militants of taking shelter in residential areas.
"We try to prevent civilian casualties during our operations," Fraser told the AP during a helicopter flight to Zhari district's government office Tuesday. "We have contacts with the local leaders in the area, but Taliban are using civilian houses to conduct their activities."
In Kabul, the capital, a top American general said violence has increased in the south because of operations mounted by Afghan and foreign forces in "Taliban sanctuaries."
"Five years ago, the Afghan national army was zero," Maj. Gen. Robert Durbin, who heads the training of Afghan soldiers and police, told CNN. "We now have sufficient forces, that's why there is some tough fighting down in Kandahar."
A fierce gunbattle broke out in Ghazni province, south of Kabul, as Afghan soldiers and police, backed by U.S.-led coalition forces, fought insurgents in the mountainous Andar district, a provincial official said. Twelve militants were killed, the official said.
On Monday, a soldier from the U.S.-led coalition was killed and another injured when their Humvee rolled over in eastern Kunar province's Asadabad district, a coalition statement said.
The kidnapped aid workers are employed by an aid mission funded by France. They were seized in Wardak province's Jalrez district, police said.
Afghan and U.S. forces have made dozens of arrests in recent days, including 12 suspected Taliban detained in Wardak province Tuesday after police raided a fortified compound where they had been planning attacks, police said.
Other recent arrests:
-Nine suspects accused of helping Afghan and Pakistani militants prepare for suicide bombings were arrested Friday in eastern Logar province.
-U.S. and Afghan soldiers detained nine suspected militants belonging to the radical Hezb-e-Islami group of warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and al-Qaida, the U.S. military said. Two midlevel Hezb-e-Islami militant commanders were detained in Khost province.
-NATO said its soldiers captured seven suspected insurgents and disrupted supply and communication routes through Helmand and Kandahar.
