Kabul: At least 38 Taliban rebels were killed yesterday and dozens others injured in clashes in southeastern Afghanistan. Some 1,000 rebels attacked three villages and a police checkpoint in Andar in Ghazni province in early hours. They faced off with Afghan security forces and their civilian supporters in a six-hour battle. Deputy Provincial Governor Mohammad Ali Ahmadi said 15 policemen were also killed.
In Pakistan, at least 19 rebels and three soldiers were killed in gunfights in a restive tribal region where troops have gained control of strategic heights, the military said.
The clashes took place between the tribal districts of Kurram and Khyber, in Para Chamkani and Maidan villages, during an operation against Taliban militants.
The army said that during exchange of fire, 19 terrorists were killed and 12 injured. Three soldiers, including an officer, also died and three were injured.
The dominating heights of the mountainous area had been cleared or occupied by forces, the army added.
The death toll could not be verified as the area is out of bounds for the media due to military operations.
The fighting follows a fresh military push in the Tirah valley in Khyber tribal district, where the military has been targeting Taliban and Lashkar-e-Islam militia threatening the nearby city of Peshawar.
Khyber straddles the Nato supply line into Afghanistan, used by US-led troops to evacuate military equipment ahead of their 2014 withdrawal.
Pakistani troops have been fighting for years against homegrown insurgents in the tribal belt, which Washington considers the main hub of Taliban and Al Qaeda militants plotting attacks on the West and in Afghanistan.
