KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Afghan and international forces have moved into a village on the outskirts of Kandahar city, where Taliban insurgents had taken hold.

Despite a massive influx of U.S. forces and a security perimeter erected around the city, locals say armed insurgents are routinely seen walking around openly in Malajat, on the southwest edge of the city.

The village is a strategic location between the bustling provincial capital and the Dand district, where Canadians have tried to choke off the flow of insurgents between their strongholds in the Panjwaii district and Kandahar city.

Afghan National Army Gen. Farooq Parwani says ANA and U.S. military troops descended on Malajat, rounding up about 120 insurgents over two days.

Parwani says there were no casualties during the operation, which he expects to wrap up Friday.

He estimates there are about 250 Taliban in the area.

"The civilians here are very, very supportive," Parwani said. "They are helping us, and saying that they were disturbed and scared from Taliban, (and) it is good to have an operation and to remove Taliban from the area."

Resident Haji Atta Muhammad said many locals support the government soldiers.

"We want Malajat to be cleaned from Taliban," Muhammad said.

But both Muhammad and fellow resident Haji Ghani said they fear civilian casualties, and expressed relief there had not been any so far.

"I am scared of an air strike, because we can have casualties there," he said, adding that the area has seen residents killed during military scuffles before.

"I am not against operations. I am only against civilian casualties. If they avoid civilian casualty we will support them more," Ghani said.

He said he hoped the clearing would finish soon.

"Our children and women are very scared."

It is not the first time Afghan forces have tried to rid the community of insurgents.

In July, Canadian soldiers mentoring Afghan security forces undertook Operation Malajat in the same area, the first fully Afghan-led operation in southern Afghanistan.

That operation involved more than 550 Afghan and coalition personnel who searched an area of about 10 square kilometres around the community.

And earlier this month the International Security Assistance Force said Afghan forces had captured 18 suspected insurgents and rescued two civilian hostages during a raid.

They said weapons and bomb-making materials were also seized.

The mission in the "heavily contested" area included several hours of heavy fighting, ISAF said at the time.