KANDAHAR: Afghan forces backed by Nato air attacks on Sunday drove the Taliban out of a district centre in southern Afghanistan, days after the insurgents overran it, officials said.

The town of Musa Qala in volatile Helmand province was captured by the insurgents on Wednesday, after a week of clashes in which the Taliban claimed to have killed or captured dozens of Afghan forces.

Reinforcements were brought in from neighbouring Kandahar province.

And early on Sunday police and troops broke through the Taliban defences in Musa Qala after Nato airstrikes pounded their trenches in and around the district centre, officials said.

“Security forces including army and commando units conducted a successful offensive this morning. They recaptured the district and killed 220 enemy fighters,” defence ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri said, insisting that government forces did not suffer any casualties.

Operations were continuing to push the remnants of the Taliban out of the rest of Musa Qala district, Waziri said.

US aircraft from Nato’s Resolute Support mission had conducted 18 attacks in the district over the past week, a spokesman for the mission said.

The Taliban have not yet commented on the reports.

Published in Dawn, August 31st, 2015

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