Taliban fighters take over Afghan villages
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) - June 16, 2008 Mohammad Farooq, the government leader in the Arghandab district
of Kandahar province, said around 500 Taliban fighters moved into
his district and took over several villages.
Arghandab lies just north of Kandahar city - the Taliban's
former stronghold - and a tribal leader from the region warned that
the militants could use the cover from Arghandab's grape and
pomegranate orchards to mount an attack on Kandahar itself.
"All of Arghandab is made of orchards. The militants can easily
hide and easily fight," said Haji Ikramullah Khan. "It's quite
close to Kandahar. During the Russian war, the Russians didn't even
occupy Arghandab, because when they fought here they suffered big
casualties."
The push into Arghandab comes three days after a sophisticated
Taliban attack on Kandahar's prison that freed hundreds of
insurgent fighters being held there.
NATO spokesman Mark Laity said NATO and Afghan military
officials were redeploying troops to the region to "meet any
potential threats."
"It's fair to say that the jailbreak has put a lot of people
(militants) into circulation who weren't there before, and so
obviously you're going to respond to that potential threat," he
said.
Two powerful anti-Taliban leaders from Arghandab have died in
the last year, weakening the region's defenses. Mullah Naqib, the
district's former leader, died of a heart attack last year. Taliban
fighters moved into Arghandab en masse last October, two weeks
after his death, but left within days after hundreds of security
forces were deployed there.
A second leader, police commander Abdul Hakim Jan, died in a
massive suicide bombing in Kandahar in February that killed more
than 100 people.
Elsewhere in Afghanistan, Afghan and U.S.-led coalition forces
killed 35 militants in two skirmishes in the south, the coalition
said Monday.
Twenty militants were killed in Zabul province after they
attacked a combined patrol with rockets, mortars and gunfire. The
combined forces returned fire and called in airstrikes against the
insurgents in the Sunday battle.
Fifteen militants were killed in the Sangin area of Helmand
province Saturday after a group of men in a treeline fired on
Afghan and coalition troops. Two hours of fighting ensued, and
military aircraft were again called in.
More than 1,900 people have been killed in insurgent violence in
Afghanistan this year, according to Afghan and Western officials.
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Associated Press Writer Rahim Faiez contributed to this report.