US-led coalition and Afghan forces killed scores of Taliban insurgents in two separate battles in southern Afghanistan, the USmilitary said today.
More than 65 Taliban were killed in one of the clashes on Tuesday night in Deh Rawud district of Uruzgan province, it said in a statement.
Several dozen more insurgents were killed in Musa Qala district of neighbouring Helmand province since yesterday in addition to more than 60 reported earlier, it said in another statement.
The Taliban could not be reached immediately for comment but in the past the militants have rejected losses reported by the Afghan government and foreign troops, calling them propaganda.
Several provincial officials and residents said that some civilians were also killed in the ground fighting and air raids. The clashes in Deh Rawud district erupted when Taliban militants attempted to ambush a combat patrol of foreign and Afghan troops.
Apart from the killing of one foreign soldier in Helmand, which was reported earlier, there were no other casualties among Afghan and coalition troops.