A gun battle and air strikes killed an estimated two dozen Taliban fighters in southern Afghanistan, the U.S.-led coalition said Tuesday. The Taliban fighters attacked Afghan and coalition troops with rockets and gunfire Monday in the Shah Wali Kot district of Kandahar province, sparking a four-hour battle, a coalition statement said. Fighter aircraft bombed three enemy positions, it said. The statement said «an estimated two dozen enemy fighters» were killed during the battle, but gave no further details on the casualty toll. Roadside bombs, meanwhile, killed two Afghan soldiers and wounded five others in two incidents in southern Afghanistan on Monday, the Ministry of Defense said in a statement. Also Monday, a roadside bomb injured two soldiers in the eastern province of Khost, said Wazir Pacha, spokesman for the provincial police chief. NATO's International Security Assistance Force said ISAF troops were involved in that incident, but added that it had no further details, the Associated Press reported.
