Afghan troops enter Taliban town as rebels flee

KABUL, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Afghan army troops reached the centre of the Taliban stronghold of Musa Qala on Monday, but it was too early to say the southern Afghan town had been fully captured, a spokesman for NATO-led forces said.

As the only sizeable town in Taliban hands, Musa Qala, in Helmand province, is symbolic for both sides in the conflict and its capture would be a major military boost for the Afghan government and its Western backers.

"The Afghan National Army has reached the centre of Musa Qala," said International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) spokesman Major Charles Anthony. "I have not said it has been captured though."

Taliban forces had fled Musa Qala toward mountains in the north, a resident said.

Thousands of Afghan, British and U.S. troops surrounded Musa Qala in an operation to retake it that began on Friday.

A British army spokesman said forces were pushing into the town, but it had not yet been captured.

Afghan and U.S.-led coalition troops earlier killed several Taliban fighters in an air strike and a raid near the town.

Mainly U.S. troops from the separate coalition force are also active in the area, targeting Taliban fighters.

Coalition forces killed "several militants" in a "precision strike" targeting a Taliban weapons supplier in the Musa Qala district on Sunday, the U.S. military said.

Afghan and coalition forces then raided compounds targeting people associated with the weapons supplier and killed several more militants, detained 10 more and wounded two civilians.

A coalition spokesman said the action was not connected to the ISAF operation in the area.

HELICOPTER CRASH

An Afghan army helicopter crashed in the Sayedabad district of Wardak province southwest of the capital Kabul on Monday, killing four soldiers, an army commander at the scene told Reuters. He said it was most likely a technical problem, but the Taliban said they had shot down the aircraft.

Two British soldiers have been killed in the fighting and hundreds of civilians have fled the area. It is ISAF's policy not to release Taliban casualty figures.

As Afghan and ISAF forces moved in closer to the town, the Taliban counter-attacked near the town of Sangin, further south in Helmand, but inflicted no casualties.

"It's a classic military tactic," said British army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Richard Eaton.

"You get attacked and in order to confuse and unsettle the people attacking you, you counter-attack them somewhere else. It was something we had anticipated, we were ready for it."

A Taliban spokesman said at the weekend that insurgents had killed more than 30 NATO and Afghan troops and said four Taliban fighters had been killed.

After coming under sustained Taliban attacks, British troops pulled out of Musa Qala in October last year in a truce criticised by U.S. commanders that handed control of the town to tribal elders. The Taliban then seized Musa Qala in February. (Reporting by Hamid Shalizi; Editing by Alex Richardson)