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149 Taliban militants killed

Operation Mountain Thrust enters its second week in Afghanistan

KABUL: Nearly 150 suspected Taliban fighters were killed and more than 60 arrested since the launching of a major anti-Taliban operation in south Afghanistan, a Defence Ministry spokesman said on Saturday.

``Operation Mountain Thrust has entered its second week and so far 149 enemies of peace have been killed, 32 others got wounded and 61 more were captured,'' Zahir Azimi told journalists at a press conference.

Asked about the government troops' casualties, he said only three soldiers died and 14 sustained injuries over the past two weeks.

Involving 11,000 coalition and Afghan soldiers, the biggest ever offensive since the collapse of the Taliban in late 2001 would continue till the militants were rooted out, he said.

He said 47 militants had been killed over the past two days in the operation covering the southern provinces of Kandahar, Helmand, Zabul and Uruzgan, the hotbed of Taliban insurgents.

A large number of arms and ammunition including AK 47 assault rifles were seized from the militants.

The Taliban militants are yet to make any comment on the claim.

The Taliban-linked insurgency has claimed the lives of more than 900 persons including more than 40 foreign soldiers in the past six months. — Xinhua

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