Past week proves deadly for Taliban as over 70 militants killed in Afghanistan

By Abdul Haleem

KABUL, Oct. 18 -- The past week has proved deadly for Taliban militants in Afghanistan as over 70 of the outfit's fighters including some commanders have been killed.

In the latest wave of conflicts with security forces, six Taliban fighters were killed as they came in contact with troops in Badghis province of northern Afghanistan Sunday afternoon.

"Taliban rebels attacked a convoy of NATO-led forces on the road leading to provincial capital Qalai Now today at 03:00 p.m. local time (1030 GMT) and troops returned fire killing six militants including their commander Mullah Abdul Hakim," military spokesman in the region Abdul Basir Ghori told Xinhua.

On Saturday eight militants were killed during a joint operation of Afghan and NATO troops in the southern Uruzgan province while three others had been arrested on the same day in the northern Baghlan province.

On Friday, three more suspected insurgents were arrested and their leader Sibghatullah was killed in a gun battle with police, according to an Interior Ministry press release issued on Sunday

Also on Friday, according to Hamidullah Zhawak, the spokesman of the provincial administration in the eastern Paktika province, more than 20 suspected Taliban insurgents were killed as NATO aircraft pounded their hideouts in Urgon district.

Seven more insurgents, according to Zhawak, had been arrested on the same day.

Twenty more Taliban insurgents, according to Abdul Rahman Sarjang, the police chief of Zabul province, were killed on Wednesday in the troubled Nawbahar and Arghandab districts during a joint operation of Afghan and NATO troops there.

Furthermore, over two dozen suspected insurgents lost their lives during an operation in Shurabak district of Kandahar province last Sunday.

All the sufferings apparently have taken place in the wake of the killing of Taliban key commander in west Afghanistan Ghulam Yahya Akbari on October 9.

Following Yahya's elimination his son-in-law Bashir Qinaat was arrested and dozens of his supporters have laid down their arms and resumed their normal life.

More than 60 Taliban fighters, according to officials, have laid down their arms and joined the government in Gazara and Pashtun Zarghon districts of Herat province following the killing of Yahya Akbari.

Eight U.S soldiers have also been killed over the past week while nearly two dozen Afghan security forces have also been killed and injured in the same period.

Both Taliban militants and the NATO-backed Afghan forces are determined to consolidate their grip and the Afghan national army and police have been pushing ahead to ensure durable security in the post-Taliban country.