US-led coalition: 32 militants killed in southern Afghanistan

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Troops fought gunbattles and called in airstrikes against insurgents in southern Afghanistan, killing 32 militants, the US-led coalition said. Attacks elsewhere killed five workers for a construction company and a police officer, while a British soldier died when his vehicle overturned. The major battle began when militants armed with guns and rockets attacked Afghan and coalition troops as their patrol passed through a "heavily vegetated area" in Uruzgan province on Thursday, a coalition statement said Saturday. The troops returned fire and called in airstrikes which killed three rebels, it said. When militants attacked the patrol again shortly after the airstrikes, the troops "defeated the attack, killing 29 insurgents," the coalition said. A 10-year-old Afghan child and two Afghan policemen were wounded.