Dozens of Afghan insurgents killed - US military

KABUL, Sep 5 (Reuters) Afghan and US-led coalition forces killed nearly three dozen insurgents overnight in a series of confrontations in southern areas rife with Taliban guerrillas, the US military said today.

A provincial official said separately that several civilians were killed in an operation of US-led troops against suspected Taliban in an area of Ghazni province today.

The US military confirmed the operation, saying the victims were militants, but did concede non-combatants were injured.

Violence has been surging in the past 19 months in Afghanistan, the bloodiest period since the Taliban's removal from power in 2001.

The nearly two dozen insurgents were killed in two separate clashes in the southern province of Kandahar yesterday, while 10 more were killed in fighting in the neighbouring province of Uruzgan, the US military said.

''Two attempted insurgent ambushes failed September 4 as Afghan National Security Forces, advised by coalition forces, repelled and killed nearly two dozen enemy fighters in separate battles in northern Kandahar province,'' the US military said in a statement.

Taliban fighters attacked an observation post near a coalition base in Uruzgan province with rocket-propelled grenades, it added.

A Taliban spokesman denied any losses. There was no independent account of what happened.

The clashes were the latest in a number of confrontations in the Taliban-dominated south in recent weeks in which the US-led military says coalition forces have killed hundreds of insurgents.

The Taliban concede some losses, but say Afghan and foreign troops vastly exaggerate enemy death tolls.

More than 7,000 people have been killed during the past 19 months in Afghanistan.

REUTERS CS SSC1302