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Scores of Taliban killed in clashes

Afghan and US-led coalition soldiers battled Taliban militants in Afghanistan and called in airstrikes in fighting that killed more than 20 insurgents, the coalition said yesterday.

The battles on Tuesday and yesterday came after Afghan forces claimed to have killed a Taliban commander involved in the kidnapping of 23 South Korean church workers in central Afghanistan in July.

Afghan and coalition soldiers in Shah Wali Kot district, in southern Kandahar Province, came under attack while on patrol Tuesday. They fought back before calling in support from the skies, a coalition statement said.

"Surgical and precision airstrikes were carried out on positively identified enemy positions from where machine gun and rocket-propelled grenade fire was originating," the statement said.

"Over a dozen insurgents were killed in this engagement," it said.

About 30km away, insurgents sheltering in a traditional low-walled Afghan compound attacked another joint patrol on Tuesday. Airstrikes later pounded the position, killing six insurgents, the statement said.

Taliban-led militants are waging a bloody resistance campaign against the Western-supported government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, which replaced the hard-line Islamic militia after the US invasion in 2001.

In Ghazni Province, insurgents early attacked a joint coalition and Afghan force early yesterday, triggering a clash that left "several militants" dead, a coalition statement said.

A number of civilians were injured in the clash, the coalition said.

On Tuesday, Afghan officials claimed to have killed a Taliban commander called Mullah Mateen, who they said was involved the kidnapping of the South Koreans on July 19. The Taliban denied the claim.

Two of the captives were killed soon after the kidnapping, two were released last month, while the remaining 19 were freed last week after Seoul repeated a long-standing commitment to withdraw its 200 troops by year's end and prevent Christian missionaries from traveling to Afghanistan.

Afghan authorities often make claims that they have killed Taliban commanders that turn out to be false. Taliban spokesmen have also downplayed or lied about the extent of their battlefield losses.
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