US-led attack kills 76 in Afghanistan

US-led forces in Afghanistan killed more than 60 Taliban fighters and 16 civilians in attacks on their strongholds in the south yesterday, the governor of Kandahar province said.

The ground and air offensive came after several days of some of the heaviest Taliban attacks since they were ousted in 2001 and just as Nato is bringing thousands of extra troops into the country.

"More than 60 Taliban have been killed and many wounded. Sixteen civilians have also died and 15 are hurt," the governor of Kandahar, Khalid Assadullah, told a news conference. The civilians were killed in air strikes after Taliban took positions in their homes in Panjwai district of Kandahar, he said.

The US military said 20 Taliban had been confirmed killed and up to 60 other insurgents were possibly dead. It did not say how many US-led troops were involved in the offensive.

It said ground troops were checking reports of civilian casualties.

Fighting intensified sharply last Wednesday when the Taliban attacked a town in Helmand province, west of Kandahar. At the same time, foreign and Afghan forces launched a sweep in Panjwai to clear Taliban massing 25 km from Kandahar town.

More than 200 people have been killed since then - more than the number reported killed in Iraq during the same period - according to figures from the US military and Afghan authorities.