By DPA
Kabul : Some 12 Taliban militants were killed in fighting near the Sanigin district of Afghanistan’s restive southern Helmand province, US-led coalition forces claimed Sunday.
A statement issued from the US military base in Bagram said around 12 fighters ambushed a joint coalition combat patrol in the north of Sangin district, adding that “as the fighting continued, more Taliban reinforcement arrived and their number reached to approximately 40.”
According to the statement, the coalition troops called air support and an estimated 12 fighters were killed as the jets hit their positions.
No Afghan and coalition soldiers or civilians were killed or injured during the engagement, it said.
The militant group has not confirmed the attack.
Two other suspected militants were captured during an operation in Shinkai district of southern Zabul province early Sunday, said a separate military statement.
“Credible intelligence led the combined force to the Shinkai district where the suspected Taliban-affiliated militants were hiding. There were no injuries to any side during the operation,” it added.
Meanwhile, the district chief of Andar district in southern Ghazni province and 15 others were wounded in a blast in a town Saturday night, officials said Sunday.
Police said Abdul Rahim Disiwal and three of his bodyguards were injured in a remote-controlled blast Saturday evening in Mirai, the central town of the district.
Ghazni police chief Alishah Ahmadzai said a dozen civilians were also wounded in the blast, three of them seriously.
“A bomb was attached to a bicycle parked in Mirai town and it was detonated when the district chief approached late Saturday,” Ahmadzai said, adding that Disiwal was in stable condition under treatment in a US health facility in Ghazni city.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the blast.