Afghan troops and soldiers from the US-led force in Afghanistan killed up to 40 Taliban insurgents in the south of the country, the coalition said today.
It said Taliban insurgents ambushed an Afghan army and coalition patrol near the village of Gorazon, in Helmand province, yesterday.
The insurgents attacked from three separate compounds with rockets, heavy machine guns, mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire.
Air strikes were called in and three bombs dropped on the compounds, killing more than three dozen militants.
In a separate incident, Afghan soldiers killed 13 Taliban militants in the Qaria Bagh district of Kandahar province today, the Ministry of Defence said.
Nearly 100 Taliban insurgents have been killed in the last three days of fighting. Afghanistan is going through the worst period of violence since US-led and Afghan forces toppled the Taliban government in 2001.