By DPA
Bagram (Afghanistan) : A joint reconnaissance patrol by the US-led coalition and Afghan security forces killed about 80 Taliban fighters in a six-hour battle in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan, the coalition announced Sunday.
The battle began Saturday with an ambush in Helmand’s Musa Qaleh Wadi region by Taliban insurgents, who fired on the coalition and Afghan soldiers from a trench line with rocket-propelled grenades, machine guns and small arms.
The patrol returned fire and called in close air support, which helped inflict high enemy casualties during the long gunfight. The battle ended with Taliban survivors fleeing.
Precision bombing by coalition aircraft inflicted more than 70 of the insurgent casualties on Taliban fighters attempting to reinforce the initial force in the trench line.
The coalition said that no civilian casualties were reported in the incident.