KANDAHAR, Sept 5: Afghan and US forces searching for a kidnapped election candidate have killed 13 suspected rebels and arrested 44 others in a raid on a Taliban hideout, local officials said on Monday. The violence on Sunday in the southern province and former Taliban enclave of Kandahar further raises security fears before Sept 18’s parliamentary elections, which the ousted regime has vowed to disrupt.

Kandahar governor Assadullah Khaled said on Monday that “13 Taliban were killed as a result of aerial bombing” in the mountains between Ghorak and Khakrez districts, while 44 rebels were arrested.

Defence ministry spokesman Gen Mohammed Zahir Azimi said one Afghan soldier was wounded when helicopter-borne US and Afghan forces raided the alleged rebel den.

He said he had no details of Taliban casualties but confirmed the arrests.—AFP