Fourteen Taliban militants killed by airstrikes

Airstrikes targeted a convoy of suspected Taliban militants who had left a meeting in western Afghanistan, killing 14 and wounding 10, a provincial governor said today.

The Taliban had met yesterday to appoint a leader in western Farah province, Gov Muhaidin Baluch said.

As they left the meeting in Bakwa district, airstrikes hit seven of their vehicles, he said.

Two of the 10 wounded lost their legs, and the 14 dead were buried near where they were killed, Baluch said.

Nato’s International Security Assistance Force and the US-led coalition said they had looked into the report, but had no information about it.

The US-led coalition, meanwhile, said about 20 Taliban fighters ambushed coalition soldiers and Afghan police patrolling near the Pakistan border in the eastern province of Paktia today, sparking an eight-hour battle the coalition said killed “a significant number of insurgents.” Airstrikes called in destroyed “several enemy positions,” the coalition said.

Ghulam Dastageer, the deputy provincial police chief, said the fight killed up to 60 fighters, though the only proof he offered behind that number was that officials found 60 abandoned weapons at the battle site.