KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - A bloody trail led Canadian troops to a cache of weapons hidden in a village in southern Afghanistan Saturday morning, after an intense firefight left 15 to 20 Taliban fighters dead.
The find came after Canadian and Afghan soldiers battled the Taliban for more than a hour as day broke in the Zhari region, about 40 kilometres west of Kandahar City.
Operation Pluto was the latest manoeuvre by coalition troops to push the Taliban from the area around Highway 1, a major thoroughfare running across Kandahar province.
On Saturday, soldiers were engaged by Taliban fire in Haji Ebrahim village starting at 5 a.m. Firefights continued on and off, with insurgents using rocket-propelled grenades and mortars.
Air strikes were called in around 5:30 a.m. and eight 227-kilogram bombs were dropped on the insurgents, Maj. Dave Quick, the officer leading the operation, was quoted as saying.
But even after the air strikes, fighting continued, with insurgents firing on Canadians and Afghans from grape huts and behind walled compounds.
A Canadian military spokesman in Kandahar said neither the Canadian nor Afghan troops suffered any injuries and there were no civilian casualties.
Afghan officials have bemoaned the increased reliance by coalition troops on air strikes, saying they are responsible for a growing number of civilian casualties in the fighting this year.
The last three joint Canadian-Afghan operations have all brought in air support to attack insurgents from the sky, but there have been no civilian casualties reported.
Soldiers seized a recoilless rifle, grenades and rounds of ammunition when they followed a bloody trail through the village to the weapons, a military spokesman reported.
India Company, the Canadian battle group leading Saturday's assault, have been involved in more than a dozen operations in the Zhari area in the last month, coming into contact with insurgents almost every time they've gone on patrol.
The district was the scene of fierce fighting by Canadian troops last summer and pockets of the insurgency remain in place, attacking troops via improvised explosive devices and ramping up their assault against the weak Afghan National Police.
On June 21, Canadian and Afghan troops battled the Taliban in the same area for more than four hours during Operation Season, also designed to safeguard the checkpoints on the highway.
Two Canadian and three Afghan soldiers were injured, and an estimated 15 Taliban were killed.
Saturday's operation came as the current rotation of Canadian troops in Afghanistan prepare to welcome more than 2,500 soldiers from Valcartier, Que., known as the Van Doos, to the country later this month.
The first batch of soldiers making up the next rotation are expected to be leaving Quebec on Sunday. They'll be taking over Canada's mission in Afghanistan in August.
Fighting has intensified in southern Afghanistan in recent weeks.
In neighbouring Uruzgan province, Afghan and coalition forces came under attack by rocket-propelled grenades and gunfire. The ensuing battle, which included air strikes, killed 15 militants, the Ministry of Defence said.
In Helmand province, Taliban fighters attempted to ambush Afghan auxiliary police and advisers from the U.S.-led coalition on Friday, leading to a battle that killed "several" militants, the coalition said.
More than 3,200 people have died in insurgency-related violence this year, according to an Associated Press count based on figures from Afghan and western officials.
