64 Rebels Killed In Afghan Battles

Fight Is Deadliest Confrontation With Militants In Nine Months

(AP)  Fierce battles between U.S. and government forces and Taliban-led militants have left about 64 rebels dead, the U.S. military said Thursday, the bloodiest fighting in Afghanistan in nine months. Nine Afghan troops and a policeman were also killed.

Seven U.S. soldiers were wounded in the fighting, which began Tuesday. American warplanes and helicopters pounded bands of militants in clashes in Zabul and Kandahar, two restive provinces in the south of the country.

The Afghan troops died when insurgents ambushed their patrol near Spin Ghar in Kandahar province on Wednesday evening, the worst-ever loss for the new U.S.-trained army, the Defense Ministry said.

A U.S. spokesman, Lt. Cindy Moore, said the troops were killed after climbing out of their trucks. Warplanes from the U.S.-led coalition were called in to help them, and 20 militants were killed in the ensuing battle, Moore said.

"There was an estimated 20 killed in action," Moore said, adding that another six militants were detained.

Three Afghan troops and an American soldier embedded with the unit were injured, she said.

The U.S. military also more than doubled the death toll from a clash the previous day in neighboring Zabul province, saying that 44 militants as well as an Afghan policeman had died in several hours of fighting in an area that has seen repeated large-scale fighting.

The militants killed Tuesday were a "mix of Taliban and anti-coalition militants" who appeared well-armed and disciplined, U.S. spokesman Col. James Yonts said. "They didn't flee, they stood and fought."

Ali Khail, spokesman for Zabul province's governor, said documents found on dead militants showed two were Chechens and one was Pakistani, but U.S. officials wouldn't release their nationalities, saying it might benefit their enemy.