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KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN - AFGHAN and Nato-led forces cleared out Taleban militants from the outskirts of Kandahar city on Thursday, killing or wounding hundreds of the insurgents, the provincial governor said.
'The Taleban have been cleared totally from Arghandab district,' Assadullah Khalid told a news conference in Kandahar city.
'They have suffered hundreds of dead and wounded and many of their casualties are Pakistanis,' he said, adding that troops were searching the area for militants who could be hiding in villagers' houses.
Earlier on Thursday, Nato and Afghan forces attacked Taleban militants dug in around the district of orchards and farms on the outskirts of the city for the second day, in one of the biggest battles in Afghanistan in recent years.
The offensive, which Nato said it expected to last until the weekend, is aimed at an estimated 600 Taleban fighters who have dug in at the Arghandab valley northwest of Kandahar, and comes days after the Taleban freed hundreds of their comrades from the main jail in Kandahar city.
About 800 Afghan government troops, backed by hundreds of mainly Canadian Nato soldiers, are fighting the Taleban insurgents who seized seven villages in the district on Monday. -- REUTERS
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