Afghanistan: 20 more dead 'spoilers'

IHT: Afghan and coalition forces raided a Taliban meeting in southern Afghanistan, killing 20 militants in heavy fighting, an Afghan military official said Wednesday.

U.S.-led soldiers and Afghan troops received information that the insurgents had gathered near Musa Qala, a remote town in southern Helmand Province, late Tuesday and surrounded the area, a local Afghan commander, General Rahmatullah Roufi, said.

During heavy fighting, 20 insurgents were killed and one Afghan soldier was wounded, Roufi said. No coalition soldiers were hurt. Read more

db: The plucky NATO Sec Gen wasn't kidding when he said "The message to the spoilers, be it Taliban, be it drug lords, be it warlords, whatever, will be a very stern and strong message: You will not get in our way. You will be dealt with very robustly if necessary."

The ongoing body count of dead spoilers will not be permitted to hinder our determination to win hearts and minds. We only seek to kill the spoilers - this is a peace keeping mission.