US Claims 100 Militants Killed in Four-day Afghanistan Battle

A four-day battle in southern Afghanistan involving US coalition and Afghan forces has resulted in the deaths of more than 100 militants, the coalition said today.

Militants with rocket-propelled grenades, guns and mortars attacked the joint patrol in the province of Helmand on a number of occasions between Monday and today, the coalition said. The combined force called in fighter aircraft for support.

Captain Scott Miller, a coalition spokesman, said he could not provide further details, including a more precise location of the fighting, because the battle was continuing.

The coalition statement said no Afghan, coalition or civilian casualties had been reported.

The large death toll comes almost a week after the US said it killed 25 militants and five civilians during an operation in the Shindand district of Herat province.

Afghan officials, however, say between 76 and 90 Afghan civilians were killed in that operation last Friday and called for more control over air strikes. The US is investigating and plans to make its findings public.

Claims of large death tolls made by international forces or Afghan officials are almost impossible to independently verify because of the remote and dangerous locations of the battles

In other violence, a roadside bomb killed a US coalition soldier in southern Afghanistan on a patrol on Wednesday. Details of the soldier's nationality or the location of the attack have not been released.

In the Nad Ali area of Helmand province, a fight between police and militants resulted in the deaths of 14 insurgents on Wednesday, said Daud Ahmedi, the governor's spokesman.

More than 3,700 people, mostly militants, have died in insurgency-related violence so far this year according to an Associated Press tally of figures provided by Afghan and western officials.