More than 70 Taliban guerrillas have been killed in fighting with Nato and Afghan forces in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar, according to Afghan police.
Four policemen were also killed in the battle in Panjwai district that erupted late yesterday, said Panjwai police chief Neyaz Mohammad Sarhadi.
"So far, we've recovered the bodies of 72 Taliban," he said.
The battle began when hundreds of Taliban attacked government headquarters in the district near Kandahar city where clashes have erupted regularly since May when hundreds of Taliban were found to have infiltrated the area.
Nato aircraft were also involved in the fighting that raged through the night, Mr Sarhadi added.
A Nato spokesman, Major Scott Lundy, said the Taliban had suffered significant casualties and that Nato force had not suffered losses.
A Taliban spokesman told a Pakistan-based news agency that 12 Taliban were killed while at least 30 Nato and government troops had died.
The air attacks had killed many civilians, the spokesman told the Afghan Islamic Press.
Afghanistan is experiencing its worst violence since the Taliban were ousted in 2001.
Although the insurgents are not in a position to defeat the Western-backed government, the war is sapping support for President Hamid Karzai, analysts say.
More than 1,800 people have been killed in violence this year, most of them militants but including more than 90 foreign troops.
Four foreign soldiers were killed in clashes on Saturday. In a separate incident, three policemen and four Taliban were killed in a Saturday clash in Farah province in the west, police said.
Most of the violence has been in the south where Nato assumed responsibility for security from a separate US-led force last month.
The Nato mission, the biggest ground operation in its history, should allow the US military to trim the size of its Afghan force. There are now more than 35,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan.
They are confronting a resurgent Taliban fueled by funds from the drugs trade and support from international militant networks.
They are also benefitting from sanctuaries on the Pakistani side of the lawless Afghan-Pakistani border.