By Xinhua,
Kabul : The U.S.-led Coalition forces and Afghan government troops have killed 12 militants in the southern Uruzgan province following a militant attack on their patrol, the U.S. military said Thursday.
The clash took place Wednesday in Shaheed Hasas district, it said in a statement. No Afghan or Coalition forces casualties have been reported.
“The forces were conducting a combat security patrol when they were attacked by militants with small-arms, mortar and rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) fire,” the Coalition statement said.
The joint patrol responded to the attack with small-arms, RPG and supporting fires, killing 12 militants, it added.
Local Afghan villagers, according to the military, reported to the patrol that militant fire killed 10 Afghan civilians in a nearby village. Three women and six children, also injured in militant fire, were shifted to a Coalition hospital for treatment.
Insurgents are stepping up their battle against the western-backed Afghan administration of President Hamid Karzai. The past months of this year have seen the deadliest insurgency in the country after the hard-line Taliban regime was toppled in 2001.