By KUNA,
Kabul : The US-led coalition and Afghan troops have killed “several insurgents” in separate operations in southern Afghanistan.
A statement from the US Bagram base said the militants were killed in Zabul province during two operations three days back.
The Taliban did not issue any comment.
According to one statement, a group of insurgents attempted to ambush a patrol using small arms fire. The Afghan forces returned small-arms and heavy machine-gun fire.
During the attack, several insurgents were spotted relocating to a secondary position in an attempt to flank friendly forces.
The Afghan troops spotted the enemy fighting position, engaged with small arms fire, and called in close-air support, eliminating the enemy threat and destroying four motorcycles and three trucks.
In a separate statement, coalition troops said they destroyed an improvised explosive device (IED) making compound in Khaas Uruzgan district of Uruzgan province in the same southern zone.
While clearing a suspected insurgent compound in Khas Uruzgan, Afghan National Army (ANA) and coalition forces discovered a substantial amount of improvised explosive device materials.
Coalition forces called in an airstrike to destroy the bomb-making compound after evacuating all civilians from the immediate area, said the statement.