Monday, September 11 2006 10:51 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Kandahar: NATO and Afghan troops killed 94 Taliban rebels in a major insurgent stronghold in southern Afghanistan while a respected provincial governor died in a suicide blast yesterday (Sept 10,2006), officials said.

The violence underscored the precarious situation in Afghanistan on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacksthe atrocity that prompted the toppling of the fundamentalist Taliban.

The insurgents died during Operation Medusa, which was launched on September 2 and is the biggest anti-Taliban offensive involving NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

The fierce battles take to over 450 the number of rebels killed in the operation focussed on the Panjwayi district which is 35 kilometres west of the Taliban birthplace of Kandahar.

"In the past nine days the ISAF and Afghan operation has struck hard at the insurgents' heartland," ISAF spokesman Major Luke Knittig told a news conference in Kabul.

"The 94 Taliban were killed and one was wounded in four different engagements in the area from Saturday until around dawn today," he said.

The force also inflicted 'severe losses' in separate artillery and air strikes on rebels who were spotted gathering for a counterattack, the force said in a statement. The number of casualties was still being determined.