NATO and Afghan forces used aircraft in clashes that left 14 terrorists dead yesterday, but the Afghan goverment is showing signs it has not closed channels of communication with the Taliban. Authorities in southern Kandahar returned the bodies of 22 terrorists over the past several days to their families through tribal elders.
Afghanistan's south, where a NATO-led multinational force recently took over control of security from a U.S.-led coalition, has seen the bloodiest and fiercest fighting this year since the end of the Taliban rule in 2001. Thousands of NATO and Afghan forces have been battling to extend the reach of the government of President Hamid Karzai.
This past weekend was particularly bloody. In Kandahar, 71 terrorists were killed by NATO and Afghan forces. In the province's Naw Zad district, a NATO airstrike killed nine terrorists including a local insurgent leader. In Helmand, a roadside bomb killed three Afghan policemen traveling on the main highway linking Murja and Lashkar Gah districts. In the southeastern Khost province, two roadside bombs targeting border police killed two officers and wounded five others.
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