80 Taliban Killed in 3-Week Battle, U.S. Says

KABUL, Afghanistan â€”  U.S. Marines killed more than 80 insurgents in a three-week offensive against a Taliban stronghold in the mountains of southern Afghanistan, the military said Saturday.

The military said the battle, the bloodiest fighting this year, was a victory that would help secure elections scheduled for fall, rather than a sign of the resilience of Taliban-led militants. Two Marines were wounded in the fighting.

About 2,000 Marines arrived in Afghanistan this spring, bringing the U.S.-dominated force to 20,000, in an attempt to put rebels on the defensive before elections in September.

Militants have stepped up their own operations, feeding a spiral of violence that has left more than 450 people dead across the country this year.

American troops elsewhere came under rocket and mortar fire several times in recent days but suffered no casualties, a military spokesman said.

On Friday, troops detained an expert bomb maker about 40 miles south of Kabul, the capital, the spokesman said. He described the suspect as a “medium-value target� but declined to give details.

The military and peacekeepers in Kabul have warned since last year that militants are increasingly using the kind of roadside bombs that have proved deadly in Iraq.

Seven U.S. servicemen have been killed in southern Afghanistan since early May -- including four when a mine ripped through their Humvee -- and dozens of Afghan soldiers have died in the region this year.

The Marines are based in Oruzgan province, the home of fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, and have called in warplanes to pound a large group of militants in nearby mountains.