40 Taliban killed in Afghan-NATO operation

40 taliban killed including a taliban leader, Mullah Salim, was a taliban council leader. International Herald Tribune

KABUL, Afghanistan: A joint Afghan-NATO operation in a volatile region in the country's dangerous south has killed 40 militants, including the Taliban's leader in that region, a government official said Monday.

The fighting came as Britain's leader Gordon Brown announced 300 more British troops were deployed to Afghanistan.

The operation in the Nad Ali and Murja districts of Helmand province began on Thursday and continued through Monday, said Dawood Ahmadi, spokesman for Helmand's governor.

Ahmadi said 40 militants were killed, though he said government officials recovered only seven bodies, which were given to tribal elders for burial. Ahmadi said the government knows another 33 fighters were killed through intelligence sources.[...]

Among the dead was a Mullah Salim, a Taliban leader who was the head of the militant's council in the two districts, Ahmadi said. The councils, also called shuras, are sometimes referred to as a shadow government structure that operates separately from the Afghan government.