34 Taliban killed in Afghan clashes

By NOOR KHAN, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 37 minutes ago

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Joint Afghan and foreign forces attacked two Taliban positions in southern Afghanistan and called in airstrikes, killing 30 militants, officials said Thursday. Two Danish soldiers died in violence elsewhere in the south.

Denmark's Army Operational Command said the two soldiers killed Thursday in a gunbattle with the Taliban. They were part of a Danish reconnaissance unit that came under fire in Gereshk Valley in Helmand Province. The military did not release any other details about the shooting.

Denmark has some 600 troops in Helmand province that are part of NATO's 40,000-member force in Afghanistan. The deaths bring to nine the number of Danish troops killed in Afghanistan.

Afghan and foreign forces attacked militants hiding inside two compounds on Wednesday in the Zhari district of southern Kandahar province, said provincial police chief Sayed Agha Saqib.

Troops detained 12 other militants, including group commanders fighting Afghan and foreign forces in the area, Saqib said. Five of the men detained were wounded during the clash.

Four other militants were killed in a separate fighting in the east, bringing the Taliban toll in the various clashes to 34.

In eastern Khost province, meanwhile, gunmen on motorbikes shot to death a school principal on Wednesday, said Wazir Pacha, spokesman for the provincial police.

Schools and teachers are frequently targeted by militants for having un-Islamic curricula or for educating girls.

This has been the deadliest year in Afghanistan since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001, with more than 6,100 people killed — including over 800 civilians — in militant attacks and military operations, according to an AP tally of figures from Afghan and western officials.

The latest violence came two days after NATO airstrikes targeting Taliban fighters mistakenly killed 14 members of an Afghan road construction crew in mountainous Nuristan province, Afghan officials said. NATO and Afghan authorities are investigating.

Afghan officials said the bombs Monday night hit two tents housing Afghan engineers and laborers contracted by the U.S. military to build a road. They blamed faulty intelligence for the mistake.

The alliance has called into question that version of the events — but has stopped short of denying it.

NATO's International Security Assistance Force said its warplanes dropped two bombs targeting Taliban fighters in Nuristan on Monday night, and there was a "strong indication" that a Taliban leader in Nuristan province, Abdullah Jan, was killed in the operation.

"We do not believe at this stage, with the details that we have, that there were a large number of civilian casualties as has been reported, but as I say, this is under investigation," said Maj. Gen. Garry Robison, ISAF's deputy commander for stability.

The bombing is the first apparent major blunder by foreign troops in months. It follows sharp criticism earlier this year of mass civilian casualties caused by U.S. and NATO operations. The civilian tolls have undermined foreign troops' reputation among Afghans and hurt the government of Western-backed President Hamid Karzai.

Associated Press writers Amir Shah in Kabul and Paul Ames in Brussels contributed to this report.