Kabul: US-led troops and Afghan security forces have killed a "significant" number of militants, the coalition said, a day after 15 Taliban were killed in attacks in the south.

The coalition did not give an exact toll but a local MP said the battle in eastern Nuristan province, in which warplanes were also deployed, left 20 people dead including some civilians.

"The combined force repelled the attack with accurate small-arms fire and crew-served weapons. During the long battle, the insurgents reinforced their positions in several compounds with large groups of fighters," a statement by the US-led coalition said.

It added that troops "inflicted significant insurgent losses" and that many rebels had been detained. The statement said the fighters were members of Hizb-e-Islami, an outlawed militant group loyal to the former Afghan prime minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who is said to have joined the Taliban.

Earlier, the defence ministry said 15 Taliban insurgents were killed in separate raids by Afghan and NATO troops in the southern province of Kandahar yesterday.

The interior ministry meanwhile said a senior Taliban commander whom it described as a deputy to Taliban top military commander Mullah Mansoor Dadullah was captured in Kandahar city. Mansoor Dadullah was captured in Pakistan in February.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai today expressed confidence that his government would work closely with the new Pakistani prime minister to fight extremism plaguing both countries.
Source : PTI