A Taliban commander was among 16 people killed in Afghanistan, while Afghan and NATO forces surrounded around 200 Taliban fighters in southern Uruzgan province, officials said Tuesday. Eleven Taliban were killed when Afghan and NATO forces attacked their hideout in the Seuri district of southern Zabul province on Monday night, General Rahmatullah Raoufi, army commander for regional south, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. He said joint forces acting on a tip-off surrounded the Taliban compound and asked them to surrender, adding that the joint forces opened fire after being fired on by the insurgents from inside the compound. The ensuing battle left eleven Taliban dead. None of the Afghan or NATO troops were wounded. In western Farah province, Afghan and US-led coalition forces killed two suspected Taliban and wounded another two during an operation in the Bakwa district, Sayed Agha Saqib, provincial police chief, said. He said two Afghan police were wounded and seven suspected Taliban were captured for questioning. In another incident, Afghan and NATO forces surrounded around 200 Taliban fighters, including some senior militant commanders, in a village in southern Uruzgan province, Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary said. Bashary said the militants came under siege when they gathered for a meeting in the Chora district of the province and were warned to surrender or face attack. He said the surrounded militants included some top Taliban commanders, but did not name any. However, Deputy Interior Minister Abdul Hadi Khalid told the security commission of the upper house of parliament on Monday that it was possible that Mullah Dadullah, the top rebel commander for the southern region, could be among the fighters under siege.
