At least 125 militant Taliban members were killed in fighting with coalition forces in southern Afghanistan, the U.S. military said Wednesday.

A statement Wednesday said 65 insurgents were killed in Uruzgan province in a six-hour battle Tuesday night and another 60 were killed in neighboring Helmand.

The statement said Afghan and coalition convoys came under attack from entrenched Taliban fighters armed with machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars.

Air support was called in and villagers in Helmand told a BBC correspondent 12 civilians were killed in the air bombardment and 50 families fled their homes.

Airstrikes killed at least 60 rebels in Helmand, while one Canadian coalition soldier was killed by a mortar shell, the statement said.

The Taliban has stepped up its attacks and more than 3,000 people have been reported killed in the fighting this year, the report said. 
 // Copyright 2007 by United Press International



Publication date: 26 September 2007   

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