US and Afghan forces backed by air strikes killed 23 militants in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday as part of a campaign aimed at ensuring security for September elections, Afghan officials said.
At least two US soldiers and several Afghan fighters were also wounded during the heaviest clashes in the rugged region of Dai Chopan in Zabul province, Jan Mohammad Khan, governor of neighbouring Uruzgan province said from the scene.
"Among the 21 Taleban corpses killed in the fighting, we found a Chechen with his passport," Khan told Reuters by telephone from Dai Chopan.
He said the dead also included a mid-ranking Taleban commander named Mullah Janam.
Haji Mohammad Wali, a spokesman for the governor of Helmand province, said government forces killed two more guerrillas in the province's Mosa Qala. He said two government soldiers were also wounded.
The Taleban casualty toll would be one of the worst suffered by the group in a single day in the past year.
However, Taleban official Mohammed Fateh Mohammed Ghazi said only three Taleban guerrillas had been wounded while the militants had "inflicted heavy casualties on Afghan and US forces".
The US military did not immediately respond to requests for comment.