The U.S. and Afghan forces killed nine suspected insurgents in two separate clashes in Afghanistan, the U.S. forces said in a statement Thursday, according to AP. Seven militants died Wednesday after a firefight and airstrikes in the central Ghazni province, the statement said. The joint force was after a Taliban subcommander involved in attacks in eastern Afghanistan. The wanted man, who was not identified, was detained. Another two militants were killed and six others detained after a clash in the southern Helmand province Thursday, another statement said. Southern Afghanistan is also the center of the Taliban-led insurgency. President Barack Obama has ordered most of the new 21,000 U.S. troops into the south to join the fight and attempt to reverse the militants' gains. The region is the world's largest opium poppy producing area, the raw ingredient for making heroin.
