Two NATO soldiers killed as Afghan offensive enters second week
Feb 21, 2010, 11:50 GMT


Kabul - Two NATO soldiers were killed in separate attacks in Afghanistan, the alliance said Sunday as the alliance's biggest-ever operation in the south of the country entered its second week, with Taliban showing 'determined resistance'.

One of the soldiers was killed in roadside bomb blast in southern region, while the other died in indirect fire in country's east, the NATO military said in statements.

It did not disclose the nationalities of the soldiers, but said they did not die during Operation Mushtarak that began against one of the main Taliban bastions in southern Helmand province last week.

NATO said the offensive, the largest since the ouster of the Taliban regime in a US-led invasion in late 2001, was 'on track' as the combined Afghan, US and British forces were making progress through Marjah, a town in Nad Ali district. The area that is located some 20 kilometres from the provincial capital Lashkargah, is the main opium producing region in Afghanistan.

A total of 15,000 Afghan and NATO troops have taken part in the operation, aimed at extending the Afghan government's authority in the province's central region and trying to win the hearts and minds of locals by launching reconstruction projects.

Some sixteen civilians have been killed since last Saturday, along with 12 NATO troops, an Afghan soldier and more than 40 Taliban militants.

An Afghan commander in Helmand Province, General Muhaiyudin Ghori, said Sunday that the Taliban would soon run out of ammunition as the area was completely besieged by the combined forces.

The independent rights group, Afghan Rights Monitor, has expressed concern that the people trapped close to the frontline of the conflict could face a shortage of food and medicine.

An Afghan police unit was preparing Sunday to take over of security of the recently occupied areas from the combined forces, police official Abdul Hameed said.

Afghan and NATO officials estimate that it would be least one month before they could entirely clear the district of Taliban fighters.

The Afghan Interior Ministry said Sunday that six police officers were killed and two injured when they were attacked by suspected Taliban militants while destroying poppy fields in the Nawa district of Helmand the previous day.

Helmand produces more than half of Afghanistan's opium. The country supplies more than 90 per cent of the world's opium, the raw material for heroin and the main source of income for Taliban insurgents.

Eleven Taliban militants were killed in two separate operations by Afghan armed forces in Kandahar and Helmand provinces Saturday, the defence ministry said in a statement Sunday.



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