10 militants killed; 12 tractors torched in Helmand

LASHKARGAH (PAN fighters were killed during an ongoing clean-up operation involving Afghan and foreign troops in southern Helmand province, where the insurgents attacked and torched a dozen tractors destroying poppy fields, officials said on Friday.

The clean-up operation launched Thursday was still ongoing in the Kushk Safed, Sarfolad and Byarak Karez areas of Washir district, the 215th Maiwand Military Corps spokesman Lt. Col. Mohammad Rasul Zazai told Pajhwok Afghan News.

He said 10 militants were killed and a drug producing factory destroyed during the offensive.

Elsewhere in the province, the Taliban fighters torched 12 tractors taking part in a poppy eradication drive in Nad Ali district late on Thursday night.

The governor’s spokesman, Daud Ahmadi, confirmed the incident, saying police clashed with the attackers during the campaign. He said initial reports indicated 17 tractors had been torched. A delegation had been sent to the area for investigation, he said.

However, Police Chief Col. Abdul Nabi Elham said four tractors were completely burnt and eight others partly damaged.

A Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, claimed 30 tractors were afire in the area.

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