Up to 60 suspected Taliban were killed by joint Afghan-NATO air and ground forces in south-eastern Afghanistan, near Pakistani border, officials with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization said Saturday. NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) spotted over 50 "enemy fighters" in Bermel district of Paktika province on late Friday, Major John Thomas ISAF spokesman told Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA). Thomas said the joint Afghan and ISAF forces directed artillery fire at the fighters and called in air strikes. Major Donald Korpi, another ISAF spokesman, said that up to 60 militants were killed both in ground fighting and air strike. Meanwhile, nearly 20 members of the Taliban were killed in fighting in Afghanistan's southern province of Kandahar, the US military said Saturday. The heavy fighting lasted more than seven hours around Shah Wali Kot. No civilians were injured, the US said. A separate NATO air strike in Helmand province injured 25 civilians, police said.
