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Anti-Taliban push

Largest offensive since the 2001 invasion

MUSA QALA (Afghanistan): More than 10,000 Afghan and U.S.-led coalition forces began a massive anti-Taliban operation across southern Afghanistan on Thursday, while a bomb killed seven persons riding a bus to a coalition base for work.

Military forces are ``moving forward with large-scale operations'' in four southern provinces, Uruzgan, Helmand, Kandahar and Zabul, said the U.S. military in a statement. It is the largest offensive since the 2001 invasion that toppled the Taliban regime.

The offensive is focused on southern Uruzgan and northeastern Helmand provinces, where the military says most of the militant forces have gathered. Operations also will be conducted in the former Taliban stronghold of Kandahar and Zabul.

Limited operations began on May 15 with attacks on Taliban command and control and support networks. According to U.S. military and Afghan figures, about 550 persons, mostly militants, have been killed since mid-May, along with at least nine coalition troops.

On Wednesday, coalition and Afghan forces killed 26 suspected Taliban fighters in an attack on mountain positions in the eastern Paktika province, said provincial Gov. Akram Khelwak. Helicopter gunships and artillery fire supported ground troops and one Afghan police officer was wounded.

Judge killed

Suspected Taliban-linked militants abducted and killed a local judge in the southern Ghazni province on Wednesday, provincial governor Haji Shir Alam confirmed on Thursday. — AP, Xinhua

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