September 20, 2007	Thursday	Ramazan 07, 1428

KABUL: About 2,500 troops launched a new operation against Islamic rebels in one of Afghanistan’s most volatile areas on Wednesday as 25 people were reported killed in fresh Taliban-linked violence.

The offensive targeting the Al Qaeda supported militants that ruled Afghanistan until 2001 coincided with a suicide attack in the same province which a police commander said wounded eight policemen.

Another suicide attacker exploded a car bomb on a road linking Kabul to the main US military base about 60 kilometres north of the capital, but only the bomber was killed, the interior ministry said.

Troops backed by air power kicked off the operation in the early morning in the southern province of Helmand’s Upper Gereshk Valley, an area that has seen weeks of intense fighting between Taliban and soldiers, including troops from Britain.

“It is an operation to clear out Taliban insurgents in that particular area and help to restore governance to that area,” said Major Charles Anthony, a spokesman for Nato’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

ISAF and the separate US-led coalition force have several operations underway across Afghanistan in an effort to help the fragile government beat back the Taliban insurgency and establish its authority.

The violence has soared this year, with near-daily clashes through the summer.

In the southern province of Uruzgan on Wednesday, an air strike killed 15 rebels who were trying to flee after attacking an Afghan and coalition patrol, a US military spokesman said.

A pro-government tribal elder was meanwhile gunned down by militants overnight in Gereshk, the district where the Nato-led operation is taking place. Taliban rebels were likely behind the killing, provincial police chief Mohammad Hussein Andiwal said.

In a separate incident, Taliban rebels killed three Afghan security guards working for a road construction company in the neighbouring province of Zabul on Wednesday, local officials said.

An Afghan policeman and two Taliban fighters were killed after the rebels attacked police in the western province of Herat on Tuesday, a police commander said.

And Afghan soldiers also killed three militants in a “clean-up” operation in the central province of Wardak on Tuesday, the defence ministry said.

The Taliban were removed from power nearly six years ago but their anti-government campaign has grown in strength.

The militants have vowed to unleash a wave of attacks during the holy month of Ramazan, which started last on Thursday.

The United Nations has called for a countrywide ceasefire on Sept 21, its International Peace Day.

Schools, government offices and non-governmental organisations have joined events in the build-up to the day.

The campaign comes amid talk in the past week about the possibility of negotiations between the government and the Taliban.

Government officials have said they are open to talks if the rebels agree to renounce violence and accept Afghanistan’s move towards democracy.—AFP