Kabul - Afghan and US-led coalition forces killed 43 suspected Taliban militants in a clash in southern Afghanistan, the military said on Tuesday. The combined forces were patrolling in Qalat district of the southern province of Zabul on Sunday when it took rebel fire from heavy weapons, assault rifles and snipers, the military said in a statement.
The joint forces responded with ground fire and close air support, killing 43 militants, it said, adding that a civilian working with the coalition forces was wounded by insurgent fire and was evacuated to a medical facility for treatment.
The statement did not disclose the nationality of the wounded civilian.
No Afghan or coalition soldiers were injured or killed during the incident, the statement added.
But Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousif Ahmadi said their fighters ambushed a convoy of Afghan and foreign forces in Zabul province on Sunday and killed four international soldiers and eight Afghan troops.
Ahmadi, who was talking to Deutsche Presse-Agentur
