Afghan and Canadian forces moved into a series of villages outside of southern Afghanistan`s largest city on Wednesday to root out Taliban, killing at least 36 militants while an explosion elsewhere killed four British soldiers, one of them believed to be a female, officials said.
A dozen more militants were killed in another district in Kandahar province, the Defence Ministry said. Troops in Arghandab district just outside of Kandahar exchanged fire with militants during "a few minor contacts," Nato spokesman Mark Laity said.
The Afghan Defence Ministry said more than 20 Taliban fighters had been killed in Tabin, a village in Arghandab, while 16 fighters were killed in Khohak, also in Arghandab. Two Afghan soldiers were also killed, the ministry said in a statement.
The 12 other militants killed were in nearby Maiwand district, it added. A top provincial official in Kandahar, Ahmed Wali Karzai, the brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, said hundreds of families had fled to the city, and that some of the villages had already been cleared of Taliban.
Canadian military officials who patrolled through Arghandab over the last day reported "no obvious signs" of militants activity. But that didn`t mean there were no Taliban there, a Nato news release said. Pentagon officials said reports of hundreds of Taliban in Arghandab were being overstated.
However, Karzai, the director of the provincial council, said more than 1,500 families had sought refuge in Kandahar out of fear, many staying with relatives. He said at least 100 Afghan troops were engaged in the fighting.
Meanwhile, the British Ministry of Defence said four British soldiers were killed when an explosive was detonated against their vehicle during a patrol in neighbouring Helmand province on Tuesday. At least one soldier was wounded.
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