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[jmhollen]

U.S., Afghan Forces Kill Nine Afghanis, Arrest 14

Sat Mar 6, 2004 07:22 AM ET

By Mike Collett-White KABUL (Reuters) - American and Afghan troops killed nine suspected members of Taliban during a gun battle in the eastern province of Paktika, the U.S. military said on Saturday, in one of the heaviest clashes reported in recent months.

In separate operations, 14 suspected rebels were detained in a U.S. air assault in the east on Thursday and two senior Taliban commanders were captured by Afghan forces on Friday after an attack on a post near the Pakistan border killed seven government soldiers.

The clash involving U.S. forces on Friday began when they opened fire on a group of 30 to 40 armed men apparently trying to move to the side of their sniper position east of Orgun-E, 170 km (106 miles) south of Kabul, in order to launch an attack.

"They were armed, they were acting in a hostile manner, so we fired on them and then we pursued them with the Afghan National Army," U.S. military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Bryan Hilferty told a news briefing in Kabul.

"Nine of them were killed in that battle, and there were no coalition casualties."

At least 10 U.S. snipers from a special operations task force in Afghanistan were involved in the battle, supported by a nearby battalion of Afghan troops. The rest of the group of suspected guerrillas fled.

The clash was one of the largest reported in recent months between 13,000 U.S.-led troops in Afghanistan and their local allies and guerillas from groups including the ousted Taliban militia and al Qaeda.

Remnants of the Taliban have declared a "jihad," or holy war, on foreign forces and their Afghan allies and aid organizations which has seriously undermined security and stability, especially in the south and east.

MULLAHS (Muslim clergymen) HELD

In a separate incident on Thursday, 14 suspected militants were captured at a compound north of the eastern town of Khost.

Troops from the 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment launched an air assault and found 100 mortar rounds, 100 rocket propelled grenades, rifles and other ammunition at the compound.

"We had intelligence that led us to a compound north of Khost," Hilferty said, declining to comment further on the nature of the intelligence. The 14 suspects are being questioned. In Spin Boldak, a town on the Afghan-Pakistan border in the southern province of Kandahar, commander General Fati Khan said two senior Taliban commanders had been caught by local forces.

Khan identified the commanders as Mullah Naeem and Mullah Abdul Rahim. They were arrested along with 40 other suspects in an operation to hunt down the assailants involved in Thursday's attack on a checkpoint in which seven soldiers died.

The prime targets are Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, his deputy Ayman al-Zawahri, Taliban supreme commander Mullah Mohammad Omar and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. (Additional reporting by Saeed Ali Achakzai in Spin Boldak)