Six NATO troops, 60 Taliban killed in Afghanistan

KABUL (AFP) - Afghan and US-led troops killed more than 60 Taliban rebels in two days of fierce fighting, while six NATO soldiers died in separate clashes, officials said yesterday.

The fighting came amid a renewed wave of violence blamed on the Islamist rebels, who have also threatened to kill 23 South Koreans and a German man held hostage in the south of the country since last week.

In a two-day battle in the opium-growing heartland of Helmand province, which ended Monday, around 50 Taliban were killed by Afghan and US-led coalition troops backed by warplanes, the coalition said in a statement.

Fighting erupted on Sunday when would-be Taliban suicide bombers drove an explosives-filled car towards the troops near the village of Shaban, while rebels also opened fire from two nearby compounds.

The insurgents' vehicle was destroyed and two rebels inside were killed, the statement said.

Coalition aircraft then dropped a total of four bombs to destroy the enemy compounds and hit other Taliban militants who later moved in to reinforce their comrades, it said.

Late Sunday, the insurgents tried but failed to shoot down a coalition aircraft with surface-to-air fire, it added.

"As the battle continued into early morning, more than four dozen insurgents had been confirmed killed by ANA (Afghan National Army) at the scene," said the statement.

The statement said there were no civilian casualties from the two-day clash, but accused the Taliban of "deliberately" hiding and firing from within civilian houses.

There were also no casualties among international troops or the Afghan army, it said.

Meanwhile, Afghan police aided by coalition forces killed another 14 "enemies of peace and stability" in neighbouring Zabul province in a 10-hour-long clash on Sunday, the interior ministry said in a statement.

The victims included what the statement described as a known Taliban commander and six Pakistani nationals. Kabul accuses Pakistan of sponsoring the Taliban insurgency.

In another incident, a suicide bomber blew himself up prematurely in western Nimroz province on Monday, killing another militant and injuring a third, provincial governor Ghulam Dastgir Azad told AFP.