40 Dead in Violence in Afghanistan

Security forces raided a village and killed 15 suspected militants, including a relative of Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, and fighting and attacks elsewhere left 25 people dead, Afghan officials said Monday.

The violence extends three weeks of fierce fighting in Afghanistan. U.S. Ambassador Ronald E. Neumann said the insurgents were better organized and more numerous than expected.

Neumann predicted there would be no letup in the offensive when thousands of British, Canadian and Dutch troops arrive in the volatile south next month to take over from U.S. troops.

“I think a lot of unfortunate people who believe the Taliban and fight with them are going to die,” he said in Kabul, the capital.

Mullah Amanullah, Omar’s brother-in-law, was killed with 14 other suspects in Siachave village, Oruzgan province, when troops stormed the area Sunday, Afghan army commander Gen. Rehmatullah Raufi said.

Coalition military spokesman Sgt. Chris Miller said the military was looking into the report that Amanullah had been killed.

Two Canadian soldiers were seriously wounded Monday in a battle outside Kandahar, Canadian media reported. In a second raid early Monday, Afghan and coalition troops killed 12 suspected militants in southern Kandahar province’s Saidan village, Raufi said.

Ten other militants were killed in Helmand province’s Sangin district Sunday in a battle involving Afghan and British forces, the Afghan general said. One British soldier was killed and two were seriously wounded, he said.

Two civilians were killed and six were wounded when a bomb hit their car as it was crossing a bridge in eastern Paktia province, the local police chief said.