Two Afghan soldiers with a counternarcotics unit and five militants were killed in a clash in southern Afghanistan while Afghan and US-led coalition forces killed 10 militants in the same region, officials said Wednesday, dpa reported.
A group of militants attacked counternarcotics soldiers Tuesday while they were eradicating poppy fields in the Nad Ali district of Helmand province, said Daoud Ahamdi, spokesman for the provincial governor.
Besides the seven deaths, two foreign civilian advisers and seven militants were wounded in the gunbattle, Ahamdi said.
He would not disclose the nationalities of the wounded advisers.
In a similar clash Saturday, 13 militants were killed when they attacked counternarcotics units in the same province, he said.
Taliban insurgents, who are waging a bloody insurgency against Afghan and international forces, are said to benefit from the illicit drug business in the country.
Afghanistan produces more than 90 per cent of the world's opium, which is used to make heroin. Helmand, which is the main hub for Taliban militants, is also the largest opium-producing province in Afghanistan.
The Afghan government vowed earlier this year to reduce drug cultivation by 30 per cent by eliminating poppy fields, but its forces are often attacked by insurgents and drug traffickers.
NATO-led and US-led international forces, which together have more than 70,000 soldiers in Afghanistan, announced late last year that their troops were tasked with targeting drug producers and traffickers if they were proven to have links with the Taliban.
Meanwhile, Afghan army and coalition troops killed 10 suspected Taliban militants Tuesday in the Shaheed Hasas district of neighbouring Oruzgan province, the US military said in a statement.
The combined forces were conducting a routine patrol in the area when they were attacked, it said, adding that no Afghan, coalition troops or civilians were killed or wounded.
Southern Afghanistan has experienced an upsurge in violence in recent weeks.
Four US soldiers were killed in a roadside attack there Tuesday, the deadliest attack for international forces since US President Barack Obama announced the deployment of an additional 17,000 troops to Afghanistan.
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