Two Afghan soldiers and at least 23 militants were killed Wednesday during a military operation to push out Taliban rebels from several villages in south Afghanistan, the defense ministry said.
Afghan troops, backed by Canadian forces, targeted villages in the Arghandab district of Kandahar province, where 400 militants escaped from prison in a jailbreak Friday.
Meanwhile, four British soldiers were killed Tuesday in a separate operation in Lashkar Gah, also in southern Afghanistan, reported CNN.
Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Zahir Azimi said thousands of soldiers and police officers -- with reinforcements from the capital city of Kabul -- began moving into Arghandab Wednesday morning.
"This clearing operation is a response to a direct Taliban threat to the people of Arghandab district, where insurgents have forced hundreds of innocent Afghans to flee their homes," a statement from NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said. "The operation is expected to be completed within the next three days."
The two Afghan soldiers were killed in a gun battle with three Taliban fighters, the defense ministry said. A NATO air raid in the district killed 20 other militants, the ministry said.
Even with the operation underway, NATO said it had seen no evidence of an increased Taliban presence in the region.
"The scale of the challenge is currently unknown," Laity said. "What we failed to find is the large grouping [of militants] that some people claimed."
Laity said the reports of militants overrunning villages was Taliban "propaganda precisely to scare people."
Throughout the night and into early Wednesday morning, residents reported seeing row upon row of military convoys moving into the district. As the operation got underway, planes and helicopters buzzed overhead.
Local elders said hundreds of militants streamed into the villages late Sunday night on motor bikes and pickups. Then, in apparent preparation for an impending military operation, they planted mines, destroyed bridges and forced villagers to stay and fight alongside them, a tribal elder said.
NATO aircraft dropped hundreds of leaflets Monday night asking residents to stay inside their homes, saying troops were "coming to remove the enemies of Afghanistan."
Locals differed on the number of villages they said the Taliban had seized, with figures varying from five to 13.
The villages are about 20 km (12 miles) north of Kandahar, near the prison. Kandahar province is where the Taliban first rose to power and where it made its last stand before being toppled by U.S.-led forces in late 2001.
Meanwhile, the British soldiers were killed as they took part in an operation east of Lashkar Gah, the British Ministry of Defense said in a statement.
The blast killed three soldiers immediately while a fourth died later, the ministry said. One of the victims served in the Intelligence Corps.
A fifth soldier was wounded and is in stable condition.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown mourned the loss.
"They were in the most dangerous of jobs in the most difficult of circumstances. I salute not just their bravery, dedication and professionalism but that of all our armed forces," he said in a statement. "Our troops are the best in the world and fighting for the noblest of causes."
The explosion occurred a day after Brown announced that Britain would send more troops to Afghanistan. British troops there primarily serve in the southern province of Helmand, where allied forces are battling a resurgent Taliban.
Defense Secretary Des Browne said Britain would increase its troop presence in Afghanistan from 7,800 to 8,030 by next spring.