KANDAHAR, June 12: Major strikes by Afghan and coalition troops killed up to 37 Taliban fighters, including a man believed to be related to the movement’s leader, the military said on Monday.

Two Afghan civilians were also killed and nine others including two children were wounded in a bomb attack on Monday in southeastern Paktia province in an attack that bore the hallmarks of Taliban insurgents.

Fifteen of the militants were killed when Afghan security forces backed by the US-led coalition attacked their hideout in the southern province of Uruzgan on Sunday, General Rahmatullah Raufi said.

The dead included a man “most likely” to be a brother-in-law of Taliban leader Mulla Mohammad Omar, Raufi said.

“Among the dead whose bodies were left on the battlefield there is one guy called Amanullah who is most likely to be Mulla Omar’s brother-in-law and was in charge of the Taliban’s finances in the province,” he said.

Items found in the man’s pockets and statements from villagers indicated that he was Omar’s brother-in-law, Raufi said.

Twelve other Taliban were killed the same day in neighbouring Kandahar province when coalition warplanes bombed a building in which militants were taking refuge, Raufi said.

Ten Taliban were also believed to have been killed in a separate battle on Sunday in Helmand province’s Sangin district, Raufi said.

“We believe that 10 Taliban might have been killed but their bodies were not seen,” he said. Taliban sometimes take the bodies of their fallen comrades with them after battle.

The past weeks have seen a surge in the insurgency with the rebels taking on the Afghan and international security forces in some of the biggest battles since the overthrow of the Taliban government in late 2001.

The violence, despite the efforts of a US-led coalition of more than 20,000 troops that has been hunting down militants for more nearly five years, has made many worry about a strong Taliban comeback.

US ambassador Ronald Neumann said in the capital Kabul on Monday that the solution to defeating the rebellion lay not only with the military but also with building a strong local government that people could trust.

“This is not only a military question, this is a question of needing a stronger government as well as a stronger army,” Neumann told reporters.—AFP