Herat: Hundreds of Taliban attacked a remote Afghan police base overnight leading to fierce battles that left about 50 rebels dead, most in NATO air strikes, Afghan authorities said today.

The insurgents stormed police in a district on the border with Turkmenistan in Badghis province, they said.

"Yesterday, about 300 to 400 Taliban attacked our police posts in Bala Murghab district," deputy provincial governor Abdul Ghani Saber said.

"With the help of coalition air support, we killed about 55 Taliban," Saber added.

The interior ministry in Kabul said about 48 Taliban were killed and more than 36 wounded in the fighting. Most were killed in international military air strikes, it said in a statement.

NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) confirmed it had sent planes to strike the area but said its information was that 10 insurgents had been killed.

"There was an attack on a police station and we supported with air power during the night. As far as we know, we have 10 insurgents killed," an official said.

The area is remote and it was impossible to independently verify the death toll.

The Taliban were in government between 1996 and 2001, when they were ousted in an invasion led by the United States weeks after the 9/11 attacks blamed on Al-Qaeda leaders who then had bases in Afghanistan.

They are waging an intensifying insurgency that is focused on the southern and eastern borders with Pakistan, where militants are alleged to have sanctuaries.

Source : PTI