Afghans start anti-Taliban offensive in south

ARGHANDAB, Afghanistan-Helicopter gunships and troops blasted a valley in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday in a huge offensive by NATO and local forces against Taliban insurgents, many of whom broke out of jail last week.The defense ministry in Kabul said dozens of Taliban including foreign militants, were killed in a NATO air strike and two Afghan army officers also died in the operation, in Arghandab district outside Kandahar city.The ministry said three Taliban group leaders were killed further south, adding 12 other insurgents died in another encounter with the army in neighboring Zabul.Some 600 Taliban fighters on Monday took over villages in Arghandab, days after freeing hundreds of inmates in an attack on Kandahar city's main jail, according to the Taliban and an Afghan official.Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousuf said militants had set their sights on Kandahar itself, the movement's birthplace, which lies about 20 km (12 miles) from Arghandab.After massing troops, Afghan army and NATO-led forces have now started an offensive to flush out the Taliban from the villages, while stepping up security in Kandahar city and imposing a night curfew.NATO said it expects the operation to last for the next three days, adding the number of insurgents in the district had been "greatly exaggerated".The developments in Kandahar come amid rising violence in the past two years, the bloodiest period since the Taliban's removal from power in 2001 in Afghanistan.
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