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Arghandab: Afghan and Canadian forces moved into villages outside Kandahar on Wednesday to root out Taliban militants, killing at least 23 insurgents.
Troops exchanged fire with militants during "a few minor contacts," Nato spokesman Mark Laity said. He said there had been no reports of casualties.
"As of this morning we've expanded operations into Arghandab," Laity said. "Canadian troops are in support of the ANA (Afghan National Army), and operations are under way."
The Afghan Defence Ministry said more than 20 Taliban fighters had been killed in Tabin, a village in Arghandab, while three other fighters were killed in second village. Two Afghan soldiers also were killed, the ministry said in a statement.
A top provincial official in Kandahar, Ahmed Wali Karzai, the brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, said hundreds of families had fled to the city, and that some of the villages had already been cleared of Taliban.
Helicopters patrolled the skies and smoke rose from fields afterward, an Associated Press reporter at the scene said.
Afghanistan's Ministry of Defence on Tuesday said that 300 to 400 militant fighters were operating in Arghandab a lush region northwest of Kandahar city.
Canadian military officials who patrolled through Arghandab over the past day reported "no obvious signs" of insurgent activity. But that did not mean there were no Taliban there, a Canadian military news release said.
Pentagon officials said reports of hundreds of Taliban in Arghandab were being overstated.
Local police said hundreds of farm families have fled, fearing possible coming military operations.
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