U.S., Afghan Troops Battle Taliban

Fierce fighting involving U.S. warplanes and Afghan troops in southern Afghanistan left at least 16 suspected Taliban rebels and three police dead, an official said Friday.

Amir Mohammed Akhund, deputy governor of southern Helmand province, said more than 250 Afghan police and army troops were hunting dozens of militants in Sangin district, and U.S. planes had bombed the area.

He said the Afghan forces had recovered the bodies of 16 dead militants, including one local Taliban commander, Mullah Thorjan.

Akhund said that U.S. forces were coordinating a search operation for the militants, who had retreated to mountains in the area.

He said 13 Afghan forces were wounded, four seriously. He said four Taliban were wounded, and two of them had been arrested.

Ghulam Muhiddin, the provincial chief of administration, said fighting began Thursday when police were deployed to the Haji Fateh area to hunt for Taliban rebels hiding there. Local police chief Abraham Jan said the fighting started after insurgents ambushed a police convoy.

Clashes intensified Friday as Afghan army forces joined a search operation against the militants, with U.S. support.

A U.S. military spokesman, Lt. Col. Jerry O'Hara, said American forces, including A-10 war planes, responded to an initial attack on Afghan security forces by up to 30 militants.

He said there were no reports of casualties among the U.S. troops, and that the fighting was ongoing.

He deferred questions to Afghan officials on casualties among the militants, Afghan soldiers and police.

Four years after the ouster of the hardline Taliban regime, its militant supporters are still fighting for control of the U.S.-backed central government, particularly in the volatile south and east of the country. Last year, more than 1,600 people died in the violence, the highest death toll since 2001.