Afghan and US-led forces killed more than 50 Taliban militants in a 12-hour battle in Afghanistan's opium-growing heartland, while a soldier and 10 rebels died in separate incidents, officials said on Thursday.
The NATO soldier was killed in the restive south, bringing to 121 the number of foreign soldiers killed this year, NATO spokesman John Thomas said.
The British soldier was involved in an operation to remove the Taliban from the Gereshk valley in insurgency-hit Helmand Province, the defense ministry said in London.
Details of how he died were not available.
During the lengthy battle in the opium-growing region, coalition warplanes were called in to bomb rebel hideouts in the most intense clash, which broke out late on Wednesday, also in Helmand, the US-led coalition said in a statement.
"More than 50 insurgents were confirmed killed, with an unknown number wounded. Sixteen Taliban compounds, three enemy motorcycles and five enemy trucks were destroyed as well," it said.
One coalition soldier suffered a broken hand during the battle, while there were no civilian casualties, it added.
The Taliban began a bloody insurgency soon after they were toppled from power by US-led forces and Afghan warlords following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Helmand has seen some of the most bitter fighting, particularly in Musa Qala district, where the coalition says 160 militants have been killed since Sunday.
The province produces most of Afghanistan's opium, which is the source of the heroin that reportedly funds much of the Taliban's operations
The battle began on Wednesday night after Taliban militants attacked a joint US-led and Afghan National Army patrol "using heavy machine guns, grenades and small-arms weapons," the statement said.
The troops called in air support and planes dropped two bombs on the buildings judged to contain the most insurgents. Secondary blasts suggested there were explosives inside, it said.
During the battle, insurgents continually reinforced their fighters using a system of riverbeds, linking the area of the fighting to nearby Musa Qala, it added.
The coalition said intelligence suggested there was a heavy concentration of Taliban in Musa Qala and that the insurgents would stay "stay and defend the area rather than use their normal hit-and-run tactics."
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