NATO, Afghan Forces Launch Offensive

Afghan forces backed by Canadian NATO troops have pushed into villages near the strategic city of Kandahar in a major "clean-up" operation to drive out entrenched Taliban rebels.

An AFP reporter saw Canadian troops driving armoured vehicles through the district of Arghandab, a lush area surrounded by pomegranate orchards, while two helicopters swooped very low overhead and dropped flares.

Sporadic gunfire could be heard from nearby villages. Only two of about 20 shops in the district centre were open and the rest were tightly shuttered.

Separately four British soldiers were killed by a bomb on Tuesday while on patrol in neighbouring Helmand province, Britain's defence ministry said.

Hundreds of Taliban swarmed Monday into villages in Arghandab, according to Afghan officials, just days after more than 1,000 prisoners including rebels escaped from Kandahar's main prison following a suicide attack.

A Taliban spokesman told AFP the militia wanted to the district in order to launch attacks on Kandahar itself.

The southern city is where the Taliban rose to power in the 1990s and the rebels made a failed attempt to take over several villages in nearby Panjwayi district on its outskirts two years ago.

"Today at 8:00 in the morning the clean-up operation started in Arghandab district of Kandahar province," said Afghan defence ministry spokesman General Mohammad Zahir Azimi.

Minor clashes erupted with insurgents but so far there were no reports of casualties, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said.

NATO spokesman Mark Laity said that, as part of an "overall operation in Kandahar, a specific operation in Arghandab was commenced this morning."

The number of troops involved was "substantial" and involved mainly Afghan soldiers backed by Canadian troops, he said.

"So far there is only minor contact and no report of casualites and no air strikes. ISAF forces are in support," said a separate ISAF spokesman, General Carlos Branco.

A Taliban spokesman vowed fierce resistance.

"The fighting started today in the morning but they have not been able to take a metre (yard) of the land under our control. We do not intend to leave Arghandab at all," Yousuf Ahmadi said by telephone from an unknown location.

"We will use Arghandab for specific attacks with motors and cannons on targets in Kandahar city. We have also planned a suicide attack which will be carried out in Kandahar," Ahmadi said.

Afghan officials estimated Tuesday that there were some 400 rebels in the district who had blown up bridges and laid mines in preparation. A Taliban commander said they included some prisoners from Friday's Kandahar jailbreak.

But Laity said initial patrols had not shown large numbers of militants.

"We've not seen evidence of large numbers of Taliban despite patrols to the district centre yesterday. This dosn't mean that there are no insurgents, but we've not seen a large number as claimed by Taliban," he added.

Earlier, provincial police chief Sayed Aqa Saqib said that authorities had announced a curfew from 11:00pm to 4:00am in Kandahar province.

Despite the presence of about 70,000 international troops mainly operating under NATO, an insurgency aimed at toppling the U.S.-backed government in Kabul has gained pace in the past two years.

In London, the ministry of defence said four British troops, including one from the Intelligence Corps, died Tuesday when their vehicle was caught in a blast east of Laskhar Gah, the capital of Helmand.

Another soldier was wounded and receiving treatment in hospital.

The deaths brought to 106 the number of British soldiers who have died in Afghanistan.

The Taliban were toppled from government in late 2001 by a U.S.-led invasion when the hardline regime refused to hand over Osama bin Laden in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington.