Up to 60 Taliban rebels killed in battle

AMERICAN warplanes pounded a suspected Taliban safe haven in the mountainsides of southern Afghanistan in an assault that left up to 60 insurgents, five policemen and seven Afghan soldiers dead and five US soldiers wounded, officials said.

Two American CH-47 helicopters were damaged during 11 hours of fighting on Tuesday at a rebel “safe haven,” a US military statement said. One made an emergency landing before it was repaired, while the other managed to fly back to a nearby coalition base.

US military spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Jerry O’Hara said about 40 rebels had been killed, but General Salim Khan, commander of about 400 Afghan policemen who also took part in the fighting, said his men had recovered the bodies of 60 suspected insurgents. Some 30 militants were captured he said.