NATO warns residents to leave Taliban-occupied villages

KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) - NATO aircraft dropped hundreds of leaflets Monday night on several villages in southern Afghanistan that have been seized by the Taliban, warning residents to leave ahead of an allied operation against the rebels, officials said.

The militants, in apparent preparation for an impending military operation, planted mines and destroyed bridges - and forced villagers to stay and fight alongside them, a tribal elder said.

The planned NATO operation would target villages in the Arghandab district of Kandahar province. It is the same province where 400 Taliban militants escaped from prison in a daring and well-executed jailbreak Friday.

General Zahir Azimi, a defense ministry spokesman, said thousands of Afghan troops - with reinforcement from the capital city of Kabul - were headed to the area to push out the militants. The deployment, he said, would be completed by Wednesday.