International forces kill 41 Taliban

Thursday Mar 13 20:58 AEDT

AP - Afghan and international forces killed 41 Taliban militants in a battle in southern Afghanistan, while a suicide car bomb attack targeting a convoy of US troops left six Afghan civilians dead in Kabul.

None of the four American troops travelling in the two armoured vehicles of the convoy were badly wounded in the attack, said US forces spokesman Lieutenant Colonel David Johnson.

The troops were travelling in one SUV and one truck, he said.

Most US vehicles are armoured.

Six Afghan civilians were killed and up to 20 others wounded in the blast, Deputy Interior Minister Munir Mangal said

He said the attacker was driving a white Toyota Corolla, a favourite among suicide car bombers.

In a mobile phone text message to an Associated Press reporter in Pakistan, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid identified the suicide bomber as Abdullah.

The suicide car bomb turned into a fiery hull that burned on the main airport road long after the attack, which also damaged several other vehicles.

US troops and international security contractors surrounded the area after the blast.

Insurgents detonated 160 suicide attacks in 2007, a record number, the UN has said.

Last year was the deadliest in the country since the 2001 US-led invasion with more than 8,000 insurgency related deaths year, the UN said.

In southern Helmand province, Afghan and international forces attacked Taliban militants as they were travelling by motorcycle toward the Pakistan border, said Ghulam Dastagir Azad, the governor of neighbouring Nimroz province.

The troops employed airstrikes during the four-hour battle and killed 41 militants, including 17 from Nimroz, he said.

A Taliban commander from Nimroz was among the dead.

The US-led coalition could not confirm the attack.

NATO said they were looking into the report, but did not immediately have any information.

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