Several dozen Taliban guerrillas were killed in an air strike by US-led troops in southern Afghanistan, a provincial official said today.
The strike yesterday was called in after Taliban fighters ambushed Afghan forces in Shah Joy district in Zabul province on the main highway linking the capital with Kandahar in the south, the country's second city.
"The Taliban bodies lie at the site of the fighting and in addition to 35 deaths, the Taliban also lost ammunition, some vehicles and motorcycles," the official said.
The Taliban are largely active in the south and east, bordering Pakistan.
Violence has increased over recent weeks following the bloodiest fighting last year since the Taliban's ouster in 2001.
