Kabul - Afghan and coalition forces killed at least two dozen Taliban in clashes and airstrike in eastern and southern regions, officials claimed Sunday. Twelve Taliban militants were killed in a US-led coalition airstrike in Sabari district of south-eastern province of Khost on Saturday, Arsala Jamal, provincial governor said.
He said the combined forces targeted a compound where they had intelligence information that militants had gathered.
US military also confirmed the air raid in a statement issued on Sunday, saying the operation targeted a Haqqani network militant wanted for conducting and coordinating direct and suicide attacks in Sabari District.
More than 10 insurgents were killed during the operation, and seven others were detained, the statement said.
The attack took place in the same region where two NATO soldiers were killed in an insurgent attack on Saturday, the alliance said in a statement on late Saturday night.
The statement did not reveal the nationalities of the dead soldiers. Most of the troops deployed to eastern region are from the US.
At least 12 other militants were killed in two separate clashes in volatile southern Helmand province on Saturday, Mohammad Hussain Andewal, provincial police chief said.
He said two rebels were killed in Nawa district of the province, and more than 10 others were killed during a five-hour combat in Nad Ali district.
The claimed death tolls could not be verified independently due to the remoteness of the area.
Helmand and other southern provinces of Kandahar, Zabul and Uruzgan have borne the brunt of Taliban-led insurgency since the radical Islamic regime was ousted by the US invasion in 2001d.
The violence so far this year has killed more than 3,800 people, mostly insurgents.
