Over two dozen rebels killed in Afghan battle -US

KABUL, July 23 (Reuters) US-led troops killed more than two dozen insurgents in a battle in Afghanistan's southern province of Helmand, without any civilian casualties, the US military said today.

However, a man who said he was a resident of the area told Reuters at least eight civilians died in yesterday's battle in the province's Musa Qala district.

The man said the victims, who belonged to one family, were killed in a US air raid during the battle. Provincial officials declined to talk to the media about the incident.

The man also said there were ''more civilian fatalities and residents were working to dig out the casualties from under the rubble''.

Also yesterday 14 Taliban were killed in a raid by Afghan police in the southern province of Zabul, the Afghan interior ministry said. But the Taliban said it lost only four fighters, including a senior commander, and added it had inflicted heavy losses on the police.

Violence has surged in Afghanistan in the past 18 months, the bloodiest period since US-led troops overthrew the Taliban's government in 2001.

Civilians often are caught up in the fighting. More than 300 non-combatants have been killed this year alone in foreign troops' operations against the Taliban, according to government officials and Western aid workers.

Yesterday's fight in Helmand, part of the main bastion of the Taliban, began after Afghan and coalition soldiers on a patrol came under an attack by unknown number of enemy fighters, the military said.

The soldiers then destroyed a suspected insurgent suicide bomb vehicle in which two insurgents were killed, the statement added.

After the destruction of the vehicle, more than seven insurgents began firing at the soldiers from two compounds and close air support was summoned.

As the battle continued, additional insurgents arrived to reinforce the enemy, the statement said.

''A total of four bombs were dropped during the engagement and more than two dozen enemy fighters have been killed,'' it said, adding there were no casualties among Afghan and foreign troops.

The Taliban could not be contacted immediately for comment.

Separately, one NATO soldier was killed in an ambush in the eastern province of Kunar yesterday, the alliance said.

REUTERS JK KP1453