Kabul - Ten Afghan soldiers were killed in a Taliban ambush in southern Afghanistan while the Defence Ministry said Tuesday that more than 100 Taliban militants were killed and wounded elsewhere in the country. The militants attacked an army patrol Monday in the Gerishk district of Helmand province, sparking a battle that lasted for an hour, said Shir Mohammad Zazai, army commander in south-western Afghanistan.
He said 10 soldiers were killed and one was wounded, adding that there were also casualties among the insurgents but he could not give any figures for the militants.
The Defence Ministry confirmed Tuesday that 10 of its soldiers were killed in the country but did not release details.
Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousif Ahmadi said Taliban forces ambushed a joint Afghan-NATO convoy on the highway linking Helmand with neighbouring Kandahar province. He said eight soldiers were killed and two NATO tanks and three Afghan army vehicles were captured.
Meanwhile, more than 100 Taliban militants were killed and injured since Monday in separate clashes throughout the country, a Defence Ministry statement said without giving details.
Taliban militants have intensified their attacks on Afghan and more than 100,000 international forces throughout the country. The militants even stepped up their attacks in the relatively peaceful northern and western regions.
The top NATO commander in Afghanistan, US General Stanley McChrystal, has asked for up to 40,000 extra foreign forces and called for an increased effort by international troops to train Afghan security forces to repel the insurgency in the country.
More than 90,000 army soldiers have been trained so far by US and NATO military trainers, a process that could eventually help the Afghan army reach its goal strength of 134,000 troops by the end of 2011.
For Afghanistan to independently protect itself against Taliban insurgents and provide security for its population, the county needs up to 400,000 Afghan army and police forces, according to Afghan officials.
But given the fact that Afghanistan remains one of the five poorest countries in the world, such a number was unlikely to be maintained, and international military donors, including the United States, have yet to approve the Afghan government's demand.
