KARKY VALLEY, Afghanistan, 6 September 2003 — US troops were yesterday hunting down fleeing Taleban fighters in the mountains of southeast Afghanistan after a bloody offensive left around 100 militants dead, US military spokesmen said.
Up to 1,000 Afghan soldiers supported by 300 US troops and aircraft have been engaged for more than a week in the major operation against suspected Taleban and Al-Qaeda bases in the mountains of Daychopan district of Zabul province, 300 km southwest of Kabul.
“Coalition forces continue to pursue anti-coalition forces. Operation Mountain Viper continues at the vicinity of Daychopan in Zabul province,” Col. Rodney Davis told reporters. “Enemy resistance in the last 24 hours has been relatively light,” he added. “Coalition and Afghan militia forces have killed at least somewhere in the range of between 70 to 100 enemy personnel.”
In Kabul, Canadian Foreign Minister Bill Graham yesterday met Afghan President Hamid Karzai after arriving there for a two-day visit to discuss regional security and reopen Ottawa’s embassy here, which has been closed since the 1979 Soviet invasion.
