Seventeen suspected Taliban fighters were killed in the central Afghan province of Uruzgan after being spotted by a patrol from the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), NATO said in statement Saturday, according to DPA. The insurgents were spotted placing a roadside bomb close to an ISAF base in Uruzgan Friday evening. ISAF forces engaged the insurgents first by exchanging small arms fire, and then called for close air support, the statement said. A subsequent damage assessment showed that ISAF troops and aircraft killed 17 insurgents and destroyed five insurgent vehicles. There were no ISAF casualties, the statement added. Meanwhile, one coalition soldier was killed in Khost province Saturday as some 7,000 Afghan and US-led coalition forces started a new offensive in five south-eastern and central provinces, the coalition announced in press statement. The soldier was killed and another wounded in two separate attacks on a base in the eastern province of Khost, near the Pakistani boarder, the statement said without naming the nationality of the soldiers.
