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Thirty militants killed in Afghanistan
Afghan and NATO forces kill 30 Taliban in the troubled Helmand province of south Afghanistan.
Afghan and NATO forces killed 30 Taliban in the troubled Helmand province of south Afghanistan, provincial police chief Mohammad Nabi Mullahkhil said on Sunday.
"In an operation launched by Afghan and NATO troops against insurgents in Kajaki district on Saturday, 30 enemies were killed and 20 others were wounded," said Mullahkhil.
The operation was carried out in the wake of militant's attack and the killing of a NATO soldier in the restive province.
Meantime, Taliban's purported spokesman Qari Yusuf Ahmadi disputed the claim, saying militants in the engagement had killed three NATO and Afghan soldiers, injuring eight others.
Militancy has been on rise as three bomb attacks shocked Qalat and Spin Boldak towns in the south and Mimana in northwest of post-Taliban Afghanistan in a single day on Sunday.
More than 200 militants, according to officials, have been killed so far this year.
Taliban-linked violence claimed the lives of more than 4,000 people mostly the rebels in 2006 and Taliban's elusive leader Mullah Mohammad Omar vowed to step up attacks this year.
