U.S. launched 240 air strikes on Afghanistan - Report

[sonz]

The U.S. army has launched 240 air strikes in Afghanistan over the past three months, more than double the 160 carried out in Iraq, The Washington Post reported.

The Post, citing figures from the U.S. military headquarters in the Middle East, said that the air raids had intensified in recent days as the army launched counter-offensives against Taliban fighters in the Afghanistan’s south and southeast.

U.S.-led forces launched a major assault against the Taliban in the south ahead of handing over the region to NATO troops to pave the way to a reduction in U.S. soldiers in the war-torn country.

Meanwhile, AFP reported that British forces, backed by attack helicopters, pressed deep into southern Afghanistan.

British commanders said the operation in Helmand province, the birthplace of the Taliban movement, is going much faster than expected, with troops also using small arms fire and light artillery to attack Taliban fighters.

"We have done far more of the mission now than we thought we would do," said Brigadier Ed Butler, commander of the British forces in Afghanistan.

Britain has deployed more than 3,300 troops in Helmand province to take over from the U.S. army there by the end of July under the umbrella of a NATO-led force.

Butler said the deployment was about 85 percent complete, noting: "I expect to have all the forces in by the 1st July."

More than 40 foreign forces have been killed in combat in Afghanistan this year, almost 30 of them Americans, in the worst flare-up of violence since the U.S. invaded the country in late 2001.

In a separate development, an Afghan MP said that Taliban armed men killed 32 of his friends and relatives in southern Afghanistan, adding that ten others went missing after the attack.

"Yesterday morning in Taliban attacks, 32 of my relatives and friends were killed," MP Dad Mohammad Khan told AFP.

"Ten relatives of mine are still missing and five are wounded," he added.

The attack was also confirmed by deputy provincial governor, Mullah Amir Akhund.

"A total of 30 people were killed in the attack in Sangin district yesterday, which includes two brothers of MP Dad Mohammad, one of his sons and the rest are mostly his relatives," he said.

"His other son and three more are wounded."

A self-proclaimed Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the attack on Sunday.