By Xinhua,
Kabul : At least 64 Taliban militants were killed in fighting Sunday between the insurgents and the government troops in Afghanistan’s troubled southern province of Helmand bringing the total Taliban casualty over the past three days to more than 100, a provincial official said.
“Taliban militants launched a three-pronged attack on Helmand’s provincial capital Lashkar Gah at the wee hours of Sunday and the troops with the support of NATO air power pounded their positions leaving 64 dead,” Daud Ahmadi told reporters.
The attack, he added, took place at 1.00 a.m. and in retaliation, Afghan security forces with the support of NATO’s helicopter gunships targeted the rebels killing 64 of them on the spot.
Ahmadi also stressed that 40 more rebels had been killed in Nadali district over the past three days.
The spokesman said there were no casualties among the Afghan troops.
There was no immediate reaction from the insurgent to the government claim of the casualty figure.
Spiralling conflicts and Taliban-linked insurgency have left more than 4,500 people, mostly insurgents, till date this year in Afghanistan.