Airstrike Kills At Least 26 Taliban Militants In South Afghanistan

June 20, 2009 12:09 p.m. EST

Kabul, Afghanistan (AHN) - Afghan authorities said Saturday that at least 26 Taliban insurgents have been in an airstrike carried out by NATO-led forces in southern region of the country.

The attack was carried out in a volatile province of Helmand, according to Daud Ahmadi, the spokesman for provincial administration.

"A group of the Taliban fighters were busy in planting mines on the road in Babajee area outside provincial capital Lashkar Gahon Friday night when the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) dropped bombs after getting information, killing 26 on the spot," Xinhua quoted him as saying today.

But he did not disclose more details whether innocent bystanders were killed during the airstrikes.

Helmand is one of the stronghold regions for Taliban fighters in Afghanistan, where the locals are involved in producing drugs in huge quantity.

The NATO's International Security Assistance Force did not immediately provide information related to the attack. Similar air strikes in the past have also killed civilians.

The rising number of civilian casualties is causing friction between the U.S.-led coalition troops and local authorities in Afghanistan amid reports that insurgent attacks are at their highest level since 2001.

Separately, the NATO said that Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) and International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) troops have detained a senior insurgent, in Logar province.

On the evening of June 16, local security forces and ISAF troops detained Mohammed Tahir, a senior insurgent responsible for kidnappings and several bombings that have killed Afghan citizens, a statement said.

"Concerned Logar citizens provided the information that security forces required to capture Tahir, a known Improvised Explosive Device (IED) facilitator," the NATO said in the statement.

"The detaining of Tahir highlights that Afghans are determined to expose insurgents posing a danger to local communities."

Early this year, U.S. President Barack Obama announced to increase the presence of U.S. troops by 21,000 in Afghanistan by the end of 2009. There are around 38,000 American troops in the country serving alongside another 32,000 NATO-led and coalition troops,

The current number of troops in the region is the highest figure since the invasion of Afghanistan to remove the Taliban from power started in 2001.