MUSA QALA, Afghanistan (AP) – Airstrikes and ground troops killed at least 40 militants during combat operations in support of a massive anti-Taliban campaign across southern Afghanistan, military officials said Friday.

The insurgents were killed in a two-day operation that ended Thursday in a remote part of southeastern Paktika province, near the Pakistan border, said Lt. Col. Paul Fitzpatrick.

One coalition member was wounded, he said, declining to release his nationality. A militant wounded during the battle was also captured.

Operations began Wednesday with an airstrike on a remote, mountainous stronghold near the village of Orgun-e, the military said. Ground forces encountered “numerous well-fortified and concealed fighting positions manned by aggressive fighters.”

On Wednesday, Paktika’s provincial governor told The Associated Press that 26 militants had been killed by Afghan and coalition soldiers during initial stages of the operation.

The offensive was launched in support of Operation Mountain Thrust, the largest anti-Taliban military campaign undertaken since the former regime’s 2001 ouster in an American-led invasion.

More than 10,000 U.S.-led troops are being deployed across southern Afghanistan to quell a Taliban resurgence and prepare the ground for the imminent takeover of military control by NATO-led forces.

Extremist forces, primarily Taliban, have been stepping up attacks against coalition and Afghan troops across the country, particularly the south, in the bloodiest campaign of violence launched since 2001. More than 500 people, mostly militants, have been killed in the past month.

On Friday, Afghan authorities arrested 12 Taliban fighters in the Qarabagh district of Ghazni province, Gov. Haji Sher Alam said. Police had gotten a tip that the men would be attending the funeral of a Taliban commander killed in recent fighting.

Afghan police and soldiers surrounded the home and arrested the men, confiscating a dozen AK-47s, eight rocket-propelled grenade launchers and four motorbikes, he said.

Suspected Taliban militants also attacked a coalition patrol in southern Uruzgan province, forcing troops to retreat to a nearby compound to fire back with mortars and call in air support, said coalition spokesman Maj. Quentin Innis.

No soldiers were hurt, although it was unclear whether there were any casualties among the militants. A coalition convoy was also ambushed in nearby Zabul province but no one was hurt, he said.

On Friday night, a gunman on a motorcycle was shot to death after he opened fire on a truckload of Afghan soldiers near a newly erected U.S. base in Helmand province, military officials said.

The man fired several shots before Afghan soldiers returned fire, killing him, Sgt. Roger Larson said. None of the Afghan forces suffered casualties.

U.S., Canadian, British and Afghan troops have fanned out over Helmand, Uruzgan, Kandahar and Zabul provinces to hunt down Taliban fighters blamed for the surge in ambushes and bombings.

In Kandahar, the local Afghan army commander said the Taliban militants, who are believed to be hiding in rugged southern mountains, will not be able to withstand the coalition and Afghan onslaught.

“Of course there is action by the enemy. They are fighting against us,” Gen. Abdul Rahmatullah Roufi said. “But they will not be able to defeat the international army and Afghan army.”

Operation Mountain Thrust began in mid-May with limited attacks and raids launched by coalition forces. But the offensive’s main phase opened Thursday and is expected to expand in the coming days.

“We have had small operations in all the provinces but the huge operation has not started,” Roufi said. “Our goal is to clean up the enemy and bring security, stability.”

In an example of the persistent Taliban threat, militants blew up a bus carrying Afghan workers to a coalition military base Thursday in the former Taliban stronghold of Kandahar. Seven workers were killed.

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