LASHKARGAH (PAN): Thirty-two militants were killed during a joint offensive of Afghan and international forces in the volatile southern province of Helmand late Wednesday, officials said on Thursday, but the insurgents rejected the assertion.
The fresh offensive came the day Defence Ministry spokesman General Zahir Azeemi said Afghan and NATO forces were poised to launch a massive joint offensive in the militants' stronghold Helmand province soon.
Speaking at a joint press conference with ISAF spokesman General Eric G. Termbaly on Wednesday, Azeemi said the aim of the operation was to separate civilians from the insurgents and to ensure security for accelerating reconstruction process there.
He also said the operation would enable the government to consolidate its control in the restive southern region and deliver services to the locals.
General Eric G. Termblay said preparations for the proposed operations had been intensified.
On Thursday, Governor's spokesman Muhammad Daud Ahmadi told Pajhwok Afghan News the joint operation involving Afghan National Army and NATO led ISAF troops was conducted in the Nad Ali district late Wednesday evening.
He claimed some of the dead bodies of the insurgents were still laying on the ground at the site of the clash in Khoshal Village. The district chief said a number of weapons were recovered from the militants.
A local official in the restive district, who did not want to be named, said two local civilians had also been wounded in the sweep. The wounded civilians were rushed to a military hospital of the NATO forces
But Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, confirmed injuries to only one of fighters during the offensive, saying the fighters killed nearly a dozen foreign troops in fierce gun-battles in the Grup Shash and Syedabad areas of the lawless district.
Meanwhile, in Zabul province, officials said three Taliban had been killed after the insurgents attacked a joint convoy of ANA soldiers and police in Darwazagi area of Shmalzai district late Wednesday evening.
Gubernatorial spokesman, Muhammad Jan Rasulyar, said a top Taliban commander was among the dead. Two pieces of Kalashnikovs and some explosives were recovered from the area, where the bodies of the dead militants were found.
Although Shmalzai district chief, Wazir Muhammad Jawadi, said that five insurgents were eliminated in the district, but a self-proclaimed spokesman of Taliban rejected the claims as baseless and said their fighters blew up a military vehicle of foreign troops, killing all the soldiers aboard.
frm/ma