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US claims killing 50 militants in Khost

KABUL: Afghan and US troops backed by warplanes killed as many as 50 militants in a daylong battle near the Pakistani border, the US military said Tuesday, one of the bloodiest clashes since American forces entered Afghanistan.

At least one Afghan soldier was also killed and three others wounded in Monday’s fighting in Khost province, a former Al Qaeda stronghold about 200 kilometres south of Kabul, officials said.

“Allied forces staved off rockets, mortars, rocket propelled grenades and machine gun fire throughout the day and into the night,” a US military statement said. “The exact number of enemy casualties is unknown, but pilots flying overhead estimated that approximately 40-50 insurgents were killed.”

Officials said on Monday that the battle began at about 2am when about 50 militants assailed a border post in the south of the province, prompting a response by more than 100 Afghan and US ground forces.

At the time, an Afghan commander said they had found the bodies of two attackers, while the US military said only that the rebels had suffered “heavy” losses.

On Tuesday, the US military said the militants retreated “in panic” when warplanes including a B-1 bomber, an A-10 ground attack aircraft and helicopters arrived on the scene.

The Afghan soldier died in a fresh skirmish later that morning, the US military said, though Afghan Gen. Khial Baz said that two of his men had died.

In the latest incident, a bomb reportedly hit a vehicle carrying a local mayor and a judge in central Afghanistan, missing the apparent targets but killing three of the judge’s children.

The children, aged 4 to 10, were in the open rear of the pickup truck when it was hit by a bomb attached to a bicycle on Sunday in Logar province, local military commander Atiqullah Ludin said. The officials were unhurt. ap

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