Airstrikes Kill More Than 60 Taliban Fighters in Helmand

More than 60 Taliban fighters were killed yesterday as hundreds of insurgents tried to launch a surprise attack on Afghan forces in Lashkar Gah, capital of Helmand province. A convoy armed with mortar weapons was bombed by Nato aircraft as it began an assault on the outskirts of the city early yesterday morning.

Daud Ahmadi, a spokesman for the provincial governor, said the fighters had attacked the city of Lashkar Gah from three sides but were pushed back after a battle involving airstrikes. Rockets landed in various parts of the city but there were no civilian casualties, he said. He added that Nato reported "multiple enemy forces" killed but had had no reports of casualties for its own organization.

The death toll yesterday - in the province which is the British troops' base in Afghanistan - could not be verified independently.

An MoD spokesman said British forces had "supported" Afghan allies in the attack but would not say if the troops had fought alongside the Afghan army. It is thought British forces could have provided intelligence on the Taliban action.

The US commander General David McKiernan, head of the Nato-led force in Afghanistan, said that hundreds of fighters had gathered for the attack. Brigadier General Richard Blanchette, spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force, said: "If the insurgents planned a spectacular attack prior to the winter, this was a spectacular failure."

Authorities recovered the bodies of 41 Taliban fighters on the city's outskirts, from where the attack began, Ahmadi said. He added that another 20 dead fighters were carried away by militants.

Taliban fighters traditionally have relied more on suicide bombings and roadside bombs in their campaign in Helmand. If yesterday's attack represented a departure from the insurgents' usual tactics it was one that had "failed miserably", the MoD spokesman commented. Afghan officials also said yesterday that troops had retaken the Nad Ali district of Helmand. Ahmadi said the three-day fight ended Saturday and that Afghan security forces were in control of the district center.

Helmand is the largest drug-producing area in the world and the region alone accounts for more than half of Afghanistan's opium poppy production. More than 90% of the world's opium is produced in Afghanistan and up to $100m (nearly £59m) of the trade's profits are used to finance the Taliban insurgency.

Yesterday a roadside bomb reportedly struck a civilian vehicle in the Shamulzai district of Zabul, killing five people.