Hundreds of militants have been killed or injured as Afghan troops, backed by NATO, launched an operation against Taliban fighters in Arghandab district of Kandahar province in south Afghanistan Wednesday, provincial governor Assadullah Khalid said Thursday. "Hundreds of insurgents were killed, wounded and arrested Wednesday, and Arghandab district is free of Taliban rebels now," Khalid told a news conference in Arghandab Thursday morning.

However, he could not give the exact figure of Taliban casualties.

In the meantime, Khalid said that only two Afghan soldiers were killed and three others sustained injuries during the operation.

Flanked by commanders from NATO and Afghan Army, the Kandahar governor stressed that militants had fled Arghandab and now the situation is in control of government forces.

Taliban militants have not made any comment so far.

Hundreds of militants in a surprise move occupied several villages in Arghandab district, 15 km northwest of Kandahar city, in the weekend and posed serious threat to the provincial capital where militants emerged in 1994 and disappeared in late 2001 under a US-led military invasion.

More than 1,000 soldiers of Afghan National Army, Afghan Police and NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) launched the operation against Taliban militants in Arghandab Wednesday morning.

More than 1,500 people have been killed in conflicts and violence since January this year in Afghanistan.

(Xinhua News Agency June 19, 2008)