KABUL, Sept. 8 (Xinhua) -- Another 21 insurgents were killed in Operation Medusa in the southern Kandahar province of Afghanistan, the NATO-led International Assistance Force (ISAF) said in a statement received on Friday.

    The militants were killed on Thursday, the sixth day of the operation, which was launched by around 2,000 ISAF and Afghan troops to wipe out rebels in Panjwai and Zhari districts.

    The joint troops are steadily putting pressure from every direction on insurgents who have been contained in the two districts, said ISAF spokesman Nick Grant-Thorold.

    "The insurgents have chosen to stay in prepared positions, and from our point of view, they're 'fixed.'"

    Grant-Thorold also said ISAF and Afghan troops would conduct future operations "in a considered, deliberate fashion."

    ISAF has said it has besieged over 700 militants in Panjwai districts.

    Operation Medusa is the largest one against Taliban rebels since ISAF took command in southern Afghanistan from the U.S.-led coalition forces on July 31.

    Over 280 Taliban militants have been killed and at least 80 were captured in the operation, according to ISAF.

    However, a senior Taliban commander has rejected the saying, claiming only about 10 militants have lost their lives.

    Panjwai, about 40 km west of Kandahar city, capital of Kandahar province, has been a hotbed of Taliban militants, who attack ISAF and Afghan troops frequently.

    About 10,000 ISAF troops are deployed in southern Afghanistan, a traditional stronghold of the Taliban, to fight insurgents there.

    Afghanistan is suffering from a rise of Taliban-linked violence this year, during which more than 2,100 people, mostly Taliban rebels, have been killed.

    Among the fatalities are over 100 foreign troops. Enditem