Two NATO troops, dozens of Afghan Taliban killed-US

KABUL, Sep 5 (Reuters) Two NATO soldiers were killed on patrol in southern Afghanistan today, a day after nearly three dozen insurgents were killed in southern areas rife with Taliban guerrillas, the US military said.

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

The US military confirmed the operation, saying those killed were militants, but did concede non-combatants were injured. It gave no details about the nationality of the two NATO soldiers killed, in line with policy, or where it happened.

Violence has surged in the past 19 months in Afghanistan, the bloodiest period since the Taliban were ousted from power in 2001.

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.

The Taliban denied any of their fighters were killed and there were no independent accounts of what happened.

''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.

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 during that period, 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.

NATO's international security assistance force (ISAF) said on Wednesday that 227 Afghan civilians have been killed and 646 wounded since the beginning of the year by 1,600 improvised roadside bombs. It gave no details on how many troops were killed by the devices.

The Afghan government and aid groups say more than 350 civilians have been killed in operations by western troops so far this year.

REUTERS LPB BST1715