Heavy battles punctuated by a barrage of airstrikes killed 75 suspected Taliban and at least six civilians in southern Afghanistan, while a suicide car bomb in the capital killed two people, including a French soldier.
The bomb attack in western Kabul came against a convoy of French troops traveling in armored vehicles, killing one soldier and an Afghan civilian and wounding many other Afghans, hospital and NATO officials said. The blast blew the windows out of a civilian bus and set at least one vehicle on fire.
NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) confirmed that one French soldier was killed in the blast, but a spokesman said he had no other information. A hospital official said one Afghan civilian was also killed by the blast.
Heavy fighting in the south, meanwhile, killed about 75 Taliban militants over the last 48 hours, the US-led coalition said. Six civilians were also killed after Taliban fighters sought shelter in their homes, which were then targeted by airstrikes, an Afghan official said.
The outbreak of fighting comes on the heels of a new NATO operation in Helmand Province, where the US Central Command reported that F-15 and A-10 fighter jets dropped multiple bombs during a prolonged engagement.
Helmand, the world's largest poppy growing region, has seen the heaviest fighting in Afghanistan this year.
Airstrikes were called in against "anti-coalition militants" in the Garmsir District of Helmand Province early yesterday, killing about 40 fighters, the coalition said. Soldiers found more than 20 rocket-propelled grenades, ammunition and land mines in the militants' compound, the coalition said.
Six civilians, including women and children, died in a separate battle in Helmand Province's Gereshk region on Wednesday after Taliban fighters fled fighting with NATO forces and sought shelter in the civilian homes, said Gereshk District chief Abdul Manaf Khan.
ISAF said there were "a number" of civilian casualties caused by the fighting.
Taliban fighters attacked the coalition forces from a housing compound that was later targeted in an airstrike. ISAF said it was "unaware" civilians were in the area.
Civilians deaths from US and NATO military action have become a major issue in Afghanistan this year. President Hamid Karzai has repeatedly pleaded with international forces to halt such casualties.
Afghan civilian deaths have declined since several incidents earlier in the summer. Wednesday's deaths appear to be the first since early last month.
In yet another newly reported battle, more than three dozen Taliban fighters were reported killed in a battle on Wednesday in Uruzgan Province, the coalition said.
The fighting began when Afghan and coalition troops spotted a dozen insurgents planting roadside bombs, sparking a 14-hour battle that included airstrikes.
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