Nato-led forces killed 38 Taliban militants in two separate attacks in southern Afghanistan today.
Backed by air support, the attacks targeted insurgent hideouts in two areas in Girishk district of Helmand province, the main drug-producing region of Afghanistan, the district police chief said.
"Eleven Taliban were killed in one attack and 27 in another," the police chief said.
Fighting has begun intensifying across the country after winter, and last year was the bloodiest since the hardline Islamists were ousted by US-led forces in 2001.
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More than 4,000 people died, a quarter of them civilians, and suicide bombings jumped to 139 from 21 in 2005 and are expected to increase dramatically again this year.