More than 20 suspected Taliban insurgents _ including five foreigners _ were killed in recent clashes with Afghan and U.S.-led coalition forces in Afghanistan, a defense ministry spokesman said Sunday. The militants had attacked Afghan National Army units at two locations in southeastern Khost province on Thursday and Friday, Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Mohammed Zaher Azimi said. The attacks prompted a counteroffensive by Afghan troops backed by coalition air strikes that left more than 20 Taliban insurgents dead, he told a news conference. The victims, whose bodies were collected by Afghan soldiers, included three men from Chechnya and two from Uzbekistan. Their nationalities were revealed on documents found with the bodies, Azimi was quoted as saying by The Associated Press. One Afghan soldier was also killed, he added.
