KABUL, June 23 (Xinhuanet) -- More than 100 Taliban militants were killed during the fight began three days ago with the Afghan National Army (ANA), Afghan National Police (ANP) and Coalition in Afghan southern province of Kandahar, an Afghan official said Thursday.

    "The fight began on the night of Monday in Mian Nashin district of Kandahar, and 32 Taliban militants were killed during the fight on Tuesday, with 15 being arrested," Defense Minister Mohammad Ishaq told Xinhua.

    "The fight continued on Wednesday, our troops killed 70 militants in the battle field, and surrounded five Taliban in the area. We confirm that both Mullah Barabar and Mullah Dadulah were among those five, and we will try to catch them," Ishaq added.

    Mullah Barabar (Brother) and Mullah Dadulah, former commanders in the Taliban regime, are the two backbones of Taliban who have planned many attacks against Afghan and US troops.

    "When the fight entered the third day, five US troops were injured, and two British helicopters were shot by Taliban. But the helicopters were only damaged without any casualties," said the minister. This was also confirmed by the spokesperson of the Coalition Cindy Moor.

    General Salim Ahsas, the commander of 400 police taking part inthe operations against Taliban, said 30 Taliban militants had been arrested, and that eight of them were wounded. Besides there were three Afghan government troops killed and five more injured.

    Around 400 people including civilians, Afghan and aid workers, as well as US troops have been killed in Taliban-led militancy since early this year.

    Taliban's elusive leader Mullah Mohammad Omar who termed the Karzai-led government a "US puppet" and the coming parliamentary election a tool to "legitimize the US occupation of Afghanistan" has called upon his loyalists to derail the process by any possible means and continue Jihad or holy war till the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan.

    After the collapse of the Taliban regime, about 18,000 US troops stayed in Afghanistan for the continued searching of Taliban leader Mullah Omar and cleansing of Taliban remnants. Enditem