Police hunt for Taleban fighters

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Afghan police in Kandahar province have been searching houses for Taleban fighters after three days of clashes with Afghan and Nato-led forces.

Many Taleban fighters escaped from Arghandab district, just north of Kandahar city on Wednesday night.

It was closest the Taleban have come to Kandahar city since 2001.

Elsewhere, two children were killed during fighting between militants and US and Afghan forces in the eastern province of Nangarhar.

'Perfect terrain'

The BBC's Alix Kroeger in Kabul says the fighting outside Kandahar city has now largely ended. But even if the Taleban have now retreated, it has been a show of strength which will not be lost on the Afghan population.

Arghandab district lies just 12km (seven miles) north of the city and is an area of walled-off by pomegranate orchards and deep irrigation trenches.

An American aid worker based in Arghandab described it as perfect terrain for an insurgency, terrible for a standing army.

It was where the Mujahideen held off the Soviets in the 1980s, marking the beginning of the defeat of the Soviet invasion.

Arghandab has been an anti-Taleban stronghold for years, but two weeks ago the pro-government local leader, Mullah Naqib, died of a heart attack.

Earlier this year the Taleban tried to kill him with a roadside bomb.

Our correspondent says his death has left a vacuum in the command of pro-government forces in Kandahar.

Four days ago the Taleban launched their offensive. Local police said 50 Taleban were killed, although it is impossible to confirm those numbers independently.

'Barricaded'

Meanwhile the US-led coalition says that civilians were caught up in fighting in Nangarhar province in the east.

Spokesman Maj Chris Belcher said Afghan and US forces attacked a compound in the district of Bati Kot to track down a militant.

"While resisting multiple requests to surrender, the militant barricaded himself in a room. Unbeknownst to Afghan forces, his family was barricaded in the room with him," a US military statement said.

After the fighting subsided, two children were found dead in the room, the US said.