11 militants killed near Afghan capital
31/12/2008 17:18
The US-led Coalition forces killed 11 armed militants during an operation
to disrupt the Hizb-e- Islami Gulbuddin (HIG) network in Kabul province
yesterday, said a Coalition statement issued in Kabul today.
The operation
targeted a HIG commander, wanted for trafficking weapons and fighters, in Surobi
district, some 60 kilometers northeast of Afghan capital city of Kabul, the
statement said.
"As Coalition forces approached the targeted building,
multiple armed militants exited the building and rushed to the nearby
mountainside in an apparent attempt to evade the force, and to occupy the higher
terrain," it said.
Coalition forces engaged the militants and called in
close-air precision munitions killing 11, it added.
"A search of the
militants and the targeted building revealed multiple AK-47s, ammunition
bandoliers, and other military equipment which were destroyed to prevent future
use," said the statement.
There were no civilian casualties reported so far,
it said.
Conflicts and Taliban-linked insurgency have left more than 5, 000
people with some 2,000 civilians dead since January this year in the
militancy-plagued Afghanistan.
Xinhua
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