KHOST: Nine Taliban rebels and an Afghan soldier were killed and 14 insurgents were captured in fresh fighting across insurgency-hit Afghanistan, officials said on Monday.
A major firefight broke out early today after nearly 200 militants crossed the border from Pakistan and attacked a border checkpost in the eastern Afghan province of Khost, police said.
Five Taliban fighters and an Afghan militia soldier died in the hour-long exchange of fire, provincial police official Gul Dad said, adding that four Afghan nationals were arrested.
Pakistani militants "were also with them fighting our troops," Dad said, citing documents found on the bodies of the dead rebels. "It was a heavy battle."
Self-confessed Taliban spokesman Mohammad Hanif claimed responsibility for the attack on behalf of the ousted Islamists but said only one rebel was killed.
The fighting took place days after Afghan President Hamid Karzai publicly accused the Pakistani government for the first time of supporting Taliban rebels. Islamabad denies the claims.
Meanwhile, four Taliban insurgents were killed in a separate clash last night in the southern province of Kandahar which also left three US-led coalition soldiers injured, the US military said.
The raid supported by warplanes "seized an enemy weapons cache containing mines and explosives" near Kandahar city, the birthplace of the Taliban and a continuing focus for the insurgency.
