Taliban fighters put up stiff resistance as Afghan and US forces backed by artillery, jet fighters and attack helicopters, continued to hunt hundreds of militants, an official said.
Mr Khalil Hotak, intelligence chief in the southern province of Zabul where the battle entered its seventh day, said on 14 Taliban guerrillas were killed on Saturday, taking the ousted Islamic militia's losses since Monday to more than 90.
The US military has confirmed 33 Taliban deaths during the first three days of fighting, which has involved the largest concentration of Taliban fighters since the movement was driven from power late in 2001.
In a seperate clash two US soldiers were killed near their base at Shkin, in the eastern province of Paktika a few miles from the Pakistani border.
A US combat patrol came under fire early yesterday, and four attackers were killed in the ensuing battle, a US military statement said. It did not say who the suspected assailants were, but recent attacks on the Afghan government forces in Paktika have been blamed on Taliban guerrillas crossing from Pakistan.
In Zabuk, Mr Hotak said an unknown number of Taliban were stationed in the Kohi Sero area, the Taliban's main stronghold and the target of bombing by US and allied fighters and heavy artillery fire from infantry forces.
"Fighting has escalated today," he said. "The bombardment has intensified, so has the shelling, but the Taliban are out there and bitterly resisting."
Hundreds of Afghan troops backed by several dozen US-led special operations soldiers had overrun Taliban hideouts in various parts of Dai Chopan district since the start of the operation, Mr Hotak added.
The clashes involve up to 1,000 Afghan troops and a similar number of Taliban guerrillas.
Zabul's governor, Hafizullah, said six Afghan soldiers had died during the whole operation and four were injured. Two soldiers from US-led forces in Afghanistan have been injured during hostilities in Zabul, and one died of wounds sustained in an accident there.
Much of the bloodshed has been blamed on the militia, which has declared a jihad, or holy war on foreign troops, aid organisations and their supporters.
Hafizullah said Taliban holed up in the area of Chinaran had been surrounded, a claim a Taliban official denied.
Mullah Abdul Jabar, recently appointed governor of Zabul by the Taliban, said yesterday that his forces were easily defending themselves and inflicting heavy casualties on their enemies.
He also said the Taliban had downed a US helicopter on Thursday, and that five US soldiers had been killed in the incident. Hafizullah dismissed the report.
The US military contributes about 10,000 troops to the 12,500-strong force hunting remnants of the Taliban and the al Qaeda network of Osama bin Laden it once sheltered.
-(Reuters)