US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan killed 35 rebels in a single strike on a "known Taliban compound" in the south of the country, while three more were killed separately on Wednesday, officials said.
Troops struck the compound in Helmand province late Tuesday, "killing an estimated 35 extremists while they met at a Taliban compound in the village of Ghach Zar", a coalition statement said.
"Several of the extremists killed were area Taliban leaders who planned and conducted multiple attacks against local Afghans, government officials and coalition forces," it said. The Taliban claimed civilian casualties in the strike, but the coalition said, "no injuries to coalition forces or non-combatants were observed during the strike."
Police in nearby Zabul province said meanwhile that they had killed three Taliban in a battle on Wednesday in which an Afghan soldier was also killed. "This morning Afghan National Army (ANA) and national police came in contact with a group of Taliban," Zabul police chief Noor Muhammad Pakteen said.
"One ANA soldier was killed and three others were wounded. Three Taliban were also killed in the fighting. Their bodies are still left on the ground," he said. Helmand and Zabul are among the provinces where Afghan and coalition forces are conducting their biggest anti-Taleban operation since the hard-liners were removed from government in late 2001 and started a guerrilla-like insurgency.
The operation, called Mountain Thrust, was launched in mid-May, coinciding with a spike in Taliban attacks with analysts generally agreeing the insurgency is stronger than it has ever been despite the efforts of thousands of troops.
Around 600 people have been killed since May in the spike in insurgency-linked violence. Most have been militants killed by Afghan and foreign security forces, who are conducting one of their biggest operations in Afghanistan.
About 10,000 troops and support staff are involved in Mountain Thrust, most of them from the Afghan, British, Canadian and US militaries. The operation is "part of an ongoing campaign to disrupt enemy forces, interdict safe havens, extend the reach of the government of Afghanistan, and facilitate good governance, reconstruction and humanitarian assistance," the coalition said.
Helmand, where about 2,300 British troops are based, has been particularly hard hit by the violence with four British soldiers killed there since June 27. "Afghan National Army and coalition forces will continue the relentless pursuit of extremists operating in southern Afghanistan," a coalition spokesman said.