By KUNA,
Kabul : A NATO air strike in southeastern Afghanistan killed 15 militants on Tuesday, local police said.
The militants were hiding in a mountainous area after exchanging fire with police when they were located and targeted by the air force, said Brigadier General Esmatullah Alizai, police chief of the southeastern Paktia province.
He said the clash and air strike took place in Said Karam district of the province.
The police chief said bodies of the militants killed in the air strike were collected from the site and brought to a local hospital.
He added that no NATO or Afghan soldier was killed or injured in the fighting.
Afghanistan’s Paktia province shares borders with the troubled tribal region of Pakistan. The undefined 2,640-kilometre border between the two countries is a perpetual cause of trouble between the two neighbours.
Tension between the two countries suddenly mounted when the Afghan president warned he might order his country’s troops to hunt down militants in the tribal areas of Pakistan.
In recent weeks, the southeastern provinces of Afghanistan are turning into a battle ground. Last week, five American soldiers were killed in a direct clash and a roadside bomb explosion in the trouble country.