To: jlallen who wrote (39256 ) 8/16/2005 2:55:45 PM From: paret Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 93284 30 Taliban killed The Daily Star ^ | Aug 16 2005 Some 30 suspected Taliban militants have been killed and 28 were captured in renewed violence in southern Afghanistan, officials and the defence ministry said Monday. Afghanistan is set to hold its first parliamentary elections in over 30 years on September 18 but there are fears that the countdown to polls will be marred by continued guerrilla attacks. Most of the casualties occurred over the weekend in the neighbouring southern provinces of Zabul and Uruzgan, the defence ministry said in a statement released on Monday. "During an operation by the Afghan National Army on Sunday -- 16 Taliban fighters were killed and one was captured in Zabul province," the statement said. In separate fighting, five suspected Taliban were killed in Deh Rawood in Uruzgan by Afghan military forces, it said. Jan Mohammad Khan, the provincial governor for Uruzgan had earlier told AFP that seven Taliban insurgents were killed as they fled after attacking a security post. It was not known if the incidents were related to each other. According to Khan, 15 suspected rebels were captured during the fighting. The defence ministry statement also said that up to six militants were captured including one of them a "known Taliban commander" who was seized in the Zabul's fighting on Sunday. Five other arrests were made in southeastern Ghazni province when Afghan forces attacked a militants' hide out, according to the statement. Meanwhile the US military on Sunday said that it had arrested a key Taliban commander, named as Qari Baba, and killed four militants over the weekend.