Afghan, NATO forces kill ten suspected Taliban in clash

Feb 9, 2007, 11:35 GMT

Kabul - Afghan and NATO forces killed at least ten suspected Taliban in a clash in the volatile southern province of Helmand, officials said on Friday.

The firefight took place in Sangin district of the province late Thursday, Gholum Nabi Mullahkhail, the provincial police chief, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Mullahkhail said that Afghan security forces recovered a lot of weapons and ammunition from the battlefield. He said no Afghan or NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) forces were hurt in the engagement.

Captain Andre Salloum, the British forces' spokesman in Helmand province confirmed that there was a clash between their forces and insurgents, but couldn't provide any more details.

'We are aware of engagement between our forces and insurgents in northern Helmand, and I can confirm that there was no ISAF causality,' Salloum said.

Around 6,000 British troops are stationed in Afghanistan under the banner of the NATO-led (ISAF). The bulk of the forces are based in Helmand provinces, which along with neighboring Kandahar were the most turbulent provinces last year.

More than 4,000 people, most of them insurgents but including civilians, were killed in 2006, which marked the most violent year since the ouster of the Taliban forces from Kabul in late 2001.