28 Taliban Killed

US troops kill 28 taliban terrorists in southwestern Afghanistan. Plus NATO killed several other terrorists in a coordinated attack with Pakistani forces. Fox News

KABUL, Afghanistan — U.S.-led forces backed by warplanes battled militants in southwestern Afghanistan, killing 28 rebels including several Taliban commanders, an Afghan official said Monday.

NATO said it killed several more insurgents in coordination with Pakistani forces along the mountainous border, while three troops from the U.S.-led coalition died when their vehicle rolled into a riverbed.

....

Fighting between insurgents and security forces is escalating, dampening the prospects of the Western-backed effort to stabilize the country succeeding any time soon. The violence has killed more than 2,000 people so far this year, according to an Associated Press tally.

In the bloodiest of the latest incidents, the U.S.-led coalition said its troops came under fire Sunday in the Khash Rod district of Nimroz province as they searched compounds for a Taliban leader suspected of involvement in suicide attacks.

The troops killed "multiple militant groups" with small-arms fire, and airstrikes killed two more groups of attackers, the coalition said. There were no coalition casualties, it said.

While the coalition said only that "several" militants died and another was detained, Nimroz Gov. Ghulam Dastagir Azad said 28 rebels were killed. He said some of the victims were torn apart in the late-night bombing, making the body count difficult.