NATO: Many Afghan insurgents die

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KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (CNN) -- NATO and Afghan troops -- embarked on an operation to take on the militant presence and influence in a restive stretch of southern Afghanistan -- battled dozens of insurgents in a firefight and killed many of them, NATO's International Security Assistance Force said on Wednesday.

The operation came as ISAF continued Operation Baaz Tsuka -- a Pashtun term that means Falcon's Summit, a new operation in Afghan that began last weekend.

It is a push designed to secure the Kandahar province districts of Panjawayi and Zhari, west of the city of Kandahar, from militants and generate grass-roots support for the government in those same locations, where ISAF forces battled Taliban militants in Operation Medusa during September.

Medusa enabled ISAF to establish a presence in the location, which contains small settlements and villages and no major towns, said ISAF spokesman Maj. Dominic Whyte. The area is roughly 25 kilometers east-west and 15 kilometers north-south.

Forward Operating Bases have been established in the region, Whyte said, and ISAF put itself in a more advantageous position to confront and rid area of the Taliban -- which used to rule Afghanistan before it was toppled by the U.S.-led coalition after the Sept. 11, 2001 attack on the United States.

While Medusa was the ISAF assertive answer to the Taliban's intent to dig in near Kandahar and lay siege to that provincial capital, Baaz Tsuka is a wider operation that includes similar military aims but added political and economic objectives -- attempts to win the hearts and minds of the residents and efforts to develop the region's infrastructure, Whyte said.

A major goal is to give the people in the region alternatives from the Taliban, Whyte said. ISAF and Afghan forces are distributing humanitarian and reconstruction aid to tribal elders, and are providing help to Afghans displaced by insurgents.

If people who are mulling participation with militants can get jobs in reconstruction projects, they'll choose that tack and reject their faith in an insurgency, Whyte said.

"It's a no-brainer," Whyte said, speaking to CNN from Kabul. "If we don't give them opportunities, they'll take another path."

Canadian and Afghan troops are in the lead, with U.S. troops also involved, Whyte said.

The deadly firefight took place during the day on Tuesday. It was by far the largest since the operation started, and there have been other fairly low-scale efforts.

The troops "came under heavy small arms fire from a known enemy compound" and "close air support was used to suppress the position," an ISAF news release said.

About 100 insurgents were estimated to be involved, and "ISAF can confirm that a large number of them were killed."

There were no Afghan security or ISAF casualties.

Also on Tuesday night, 20 insurgents were seized by troops conducting during security maneuvers involved with the operation, a press statement said.

ISAF also reported efforts to work with the tribal elders in the region. Kandahar Provincial Gov. Assadullah Khalid, senior representatives from the Afghan national security forces and ISAF on Wednesday met to discuss the progress of the operation and "to ensure that all security and humanitarian concerns of the villagers are being addressed."

CNN's Joe Sterling in Atlanta contributed to this report.