U.S.-led coalition forces killed 25 militants, including a woman fighter, in separate raids aimed at a suspected al Qaeda commander and Taliban insurgents in eastern Afghanistan, the U.S. military said on Saturday.
One operation targeted a "known al Qaeda leader," believed to have facilitated the movement of foreign troops into eastern Kunar province, it said without naming the suspect, reported Reuters.
"The al Qaeda leader is also believed to be in contact with other militants in the region ...."
Seven militants were killed in that operation including an armed woman, it said. The military did not say if the al Qaeda leader was among the dead.
Other raids targeted the network of Jalaluddin Haqqani, a top military commander for the Taliban-led insurgents in southeastern Khost, it said.
At least 18 militants were killed in those attacks in a compound, the U.S. military said.
It did not say whether there were any casualties among the coalition forces in any of those operations, but a separate statement Friday said one foreign soldier was killed in an engagement in an eastern area same day.
The Taliban could not be reached for comment and Reuters had no immediate independent verification about the military's accounts.
U.S.-led troops overthrew Taliban's radical Islamist government after it refused to hand over al Qaeda leaders wanted by Washington for the September 11 attacks which killed nearly 3,000 people in America.
Many more civilians have been killed in Afghanistan, nearly seven years on after the invasion and al Qaeda as well as Taliban leaders are still at large.