Kabul, 3 July (AKI) - At least 20 suspected Taliban fighters have been killed by coalition forces responding to an attack on a military patrol in the district of Sangin in the southern Afghan province of Helmand. According to US military sources, the patrol had just finished a reconnaissance mission of the area in which they had found hidden arms supplies, when some 30 rebel fighters opened fire on the patrol. | Previously reported as about 12 dead talis |
The US military said that the exchange of fire took place in the same district in which two British soldiers were killed and four others injured on Saturday night after their military base was attacked by suspected Taliban fighters.
In a separate incident, a US-led coalition helicopter was crashed late Sunday in southern Afghanistan province of Kandahar, killing one crew member and injuring another. A US military statement said that enemy fire had been ruled out as the cause of the crash.
Reports say that in this year alone, more than 900 people including over 40 foreign soldiers have been killed in the violence between the militants and the coalition forces in Afghanistan. |