KANDAHAR, Dec 12: More than 50 Taliban were killed in two days of intense clashes in southern Afghanistan after the rebels were pushed out of a nearby stronghold, the defence ministry said on Wednesday. The fighting took place in a district of Helmand province neighbouring Musa Qala, where the Afghan army mounted a campaign that on Monday drove out Taliban rebels who had been entrenched there for 10 months.

“The terrorists, after being defeated in Musa Qala, attempted to put pressure on Sangin district. During 48 hours of intense clashes around Sangin, over 50 terrorists have been killed,” the ministry said in a statement.

It said three of the dead were foreign nationals, a reference to Al Qaeda-linked foreign fighters who are said to be helping the Taliban in their insurgency against the government and its mainly western allies.—AFP