13 Taliban ultras killed

Kandahar, September 5:

Afghan and US forces searching for a kidnapped election candidate have killed 13 suspected rebels and arrested another 40 in a raid on a Taliban hideout, local officials said today. The joint forces surrounded the rebel den between the districts of Ghorak and Khakrez in the southern province of Kandahar yesterday, said defence ministry spokesman General Mohammed Zahir Azimi. “We arrested 40 Taliban in the area after a gun battle,” he said. He said there were no US or Afghan casualties and he had no details of the toll on the Taliban side. Kandahar governor Assadullah Kha-led told reporters late yesterday that “13 Taliban were killed as a result of aerial bombing of the mountains of Ghorak.” Fighters abducted the candidate in upcoming parliamentary polls as well as a district governor and his three guards in Ghorak on Friday. They later clai-med to have killed them.