Afghan, US forces kill 60 Taliban in fierce clashes

KABUL (AFP) - Afghan and US-led forces killed more than 50 Taliban in a 12-hour battle in the country's opium-growing heartland, while ten rebels and a policeman died in separate fighting, officials said Thursday.

Coalition warplanes were called in to bomb rebel hideouts in the most intense clash, which broke out late Wednesday in the insurgency-hit southern province of Helmand, a US-led coalition said in a statement.

"More than 50 insurgents were confirmed killed with an unknown number wounded. Sixteen Taliban compounds, three enemy motorcycles and five enemy trucks were destroyed as well," the statement said.

One coalition soldier suffered a broken hand during the battle, while there were no civilian casualties, it added.

The ultra-Islamic Taliban launched a bloody insurgency after they were toppled from power by US-led forces and Afghan warlords following the 9/11 attacks. Thousands of people have died since then.

The Taliban were not immediately available to comment on the official casualty figures.

Helmand has seen some of the most bitter fighting, particularly in rebel-infested Musa Qala district, near the scene of the latest battle, where the coalition says 160 militants have been killed since Sunday.

The province produces most of Afghanistan's opium, the source of the heroin that reportedly funds much of the Taliban's operations

The fighting erupted on Wednesday night after Taliban militants attacked a joint US-led and Afghan National Army patrol.

"During the course of the battle, the insurgents attacked from 16 separate compounds using heavy machineguns, rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms weapons," said the statement.

The troops called in air support, and coalition planes dropped two bombs on the buildings judged to contain the most insurgents.
Secondary blasts suggested there was a large cache of explosives inside, it said.

During the battle insurgents continually reinforced their fighters using a system of wadis, or riverbeds, linking the area of the fighting to nearby Musa Qala, it added.

The coalition said intelligence suggested there was a heavy concentration of Taliban in Musa Qala and that the insurgents would stay "stay and defend the area rather than use their normal hit-and-run tactics."

In neighbouring Kandahar, the province where the Taliban first rose to power in the 1990s, rebels attacked a police post overnight, sparking heavy fighting, provincial police chief Sayed Aqa Saqib told AFP.

"Ten Taliban bodies were left on the battlefield and four were wounded. An Afghan policeman was also martyred and eight were hurt," said Saqib of the clash in Maruf district.

In a separate incident at about the same time the insurgents attacked security forces in Kandahar's Khakraiz district, leaving three policemen wounded and causing an unknown number of Taliban casualties, said Saqib.