An errant US airstrike has killed 12 Afghan National Police officers who were fighting the Taliban and wounded two others.

Airstrikes and clashes in southern Afghanistan killed more than 75 militants, as a threatened deadline for the lives of 23 South Korean hostages being held by Taliban militants passed with no resolution.

A LOCAL investigation into air strikes that slammed into Afghan homes where Taliban fighters sought shelter found that 62 insurgents and 45 civilians were killed, two Afghan officials said yesterday.

Suspected Taliban militants ambushed a Nato convoy in southern Afghanistan today, and a gunshot victim said soldiers fleeing the scene shot him and killed a man in a bakery.

At least 21 rebels were killed today in fighting between Afghan forces and Taliban militants in a volatile southern province.