West News - KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- Three Canadian soldiers were killed in a major NATO offensive to drive Taliban insurgents from a stronghold west of here, according to an Afghan official.
The operation in the Panjwayi district includes Canadian, British and American troops.
�It's going well, but there have been a number of International Security Assistance Force casualties," NATO spokesman Major Scott Lundy said Sunday. "We recognize this kind of difficult or challenging operation can't be completed without having some number of casualties."
Lundy would not confirm how many are dead, and did not say what their nationalities are.
But Reuters news agency quoted an Afghan defense ministry official, Zahir Azimi, as saying three Canadian soldiers were killed and six injured.
�It's regrettable, but at the same time we're carrying on with our task," said Lundy.
The Canadian-led Operation Medusa is attempting to clear out Taliban fighters from the volatile Panjwaii district west of here used as a staging ground for deadly ambushes and terror attacks in Kandahar City.
The Afghan official also said 89 Taliban were killed.

A NATO statement said forces had gained ground during Operation Medusa, which was continuing Sunday.
Vehicles have been ordered off the roads leading to Panjwayi, about 45 kilometres west of Kandahar.
The area, between the Panjwaii and Zhari districts, has been the site of fierce and fatal fighting over the past four months that has killed at least six Canadian soldiers and left dozens wounded. It has spiritual and symbolic significance to the Taliban and is considered key ground for exerting control on Highway 1, a vital economic artery, and Kandahar City, the economic centre of southern Afghanistan and the country's second largest city.
The military describes the terrain as "tough" and "complex" because of its clustered villages, maze-like, mud-walled compounds and grape-drying huts, and sought to negate that defensive advantage from afar. Canadians fired 100-pound shells from Howitzer guns and called in air support, including attack helicopters, bombarding insurgent positions relentlessly through Saturday afternoon and evening with precision missiles and bombs.
Fourteen British troops were killed in a plane crash Saturday as the offensive was launched.
Taliban insurgents claimed they shot down the British aircraft, which crashed just west of Kandahar during Saturday's fighting, but coalition officials rejected the claim, saying the accident was due to a technical problem.
� CanWest News Service, with files from CP 2006