38 Taliban killed at hide-outs

KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN — NATO-led forces killed 38 Taliban guerrillas Thursday in two attacks in southern Afghanistan, a provincial police official said.

The attacks targeted insurgent hide-outs in two areas of Helmand province, the district police chief said.

“Eleven Taliban were killed in one attack and 27 in another,” said the chief, who uses the single name Habibullah.

“There were no casualties among NATO or our troops,” he said.

Afghan and North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces have launched their largest offensive ever in Helmand, targeting Taliban militants and drug lords who are seeing record opium poppy crops for the second year running. The poppies are used to make heroin.

Elsewhere, criticism continued over the Afghan government’s decision to free five Taliban prisoners in exchange for the freedom of an Italian journalist.

Daniele Mastrogiacomo, who writes for Italy’s La Repubblica newspaper, was freed Monday after two weeks in captivity with the Taliban. His Afghan driver, who was also seized, was beheaded, and the fate of his interpreter was not known.

In Washington, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates expressed concern but said, “This was between the Afghan government and the Italians.”

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said, “The concern, I think, is obvious, in that you have individuals who are potentially quite dangerous who have been released from prison.”

Concern also has been expressed that the action might encourage further abductions.

Some politicians in Italy also decried the move.