Senior Taliban among 5 killed in strike -U.S. army

KABUL, May 27 (Reuters) US-led troops in Afghanistan killed five Taliban insurgents, including some key leaders, in an attack on a training facility, the US military said today.

The military did not identify those killed during last night's strike, the latest in a mounting wave of violence, which was launched in the village of Qala Sak of southern Helmand province, near the border with Pakistan.

''Among those killed were key senior leaders of the Taliban network who have conducted attacks against coalition and Afghan forces, Afghan officials and civilians,'' the military said in a statement.

''This was a highly successful mission based on solid tactical intelligence and coordinated joint ground and indirect fires,'' it said, quoting US military spokesman Lt Col Paul Fitzpatrick.

There were no reports of injuries to civilians or damage to property during the statement said, adding that the troops had also discovered a large arms cache in the village.

The strike was the latest in a series of operations launched by U.S.-led troops since last week in several areas of southern Afghanistan in response to mounting attacks by insurgents.

Afghanistan is going through its most intense spell of violence since U.S. and Afghan opposition forces ousted the Taliban in late 2001 for refusing to hand over Osama bin Laden, architect of the September 11 attacks on the United States.

Nearly 300 people have been killed in a string of battles, ambushes and bombings since last week, according to the US military and Afghan officials.

Most of the dead were militants but dozens of Afghan police, soldiers and at least 17 civilians have also been killed, along with four foreign soldiers.

Amid fears of more fighting, about 3,000 people have fled their homes in a village of Kandahar that has taken the brunt of the violence since last week. That is the biggest displacement of civilians since the toppling of the Taliban.

The Taliban and their Islamic allies, fighting to oust foreign forces and defeat the government, mostly operate in the south and eastern parts of Afghanistan.

REUTERS DKS KN1243