 US-led coalition airstrikes killed nearly a dozen Taliban fighters in the southern province of Zabul overnight, the US military said. Afghan and US-led coalition troops called in air support after detecting a group of more than 20 Taliban preparing to ambush them near a village in the Arghandab district of the province on Tuesday, it added. | More than 245 Taliban had been killed in the southern provinces of Kandahar and Zabul since late August. |
“The Afghan National Army called in coalition close-air support to strike the insurgents before they could launch their attempted ambush,” the US military said in a statement. “The coalition aircraft used a precision-guided munitions and machine-gun fire to eliminate the insurgent threat.”
“Nearly a dozen Taliban fighters were killed during the brief engagement,” it added, saying more than 245 Taliban had been killed in the southern provinces of Kandahar and Zabul since late August. There were no independent accounts of how many people were killed or what happened. The Taliban were not immediately available for comment.
| Of course they weren't. They were dead. |
The fighting came after a suicide bomber rammed a US security firm convoy in the southern province of Helmand on Tuesday, killing two local staff and wounding eight other people. |