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| Afghan clash 'kills 40 militants' | |
| (10 minutes later) | |
| Foreign and Afghan forces have killed about 40 militants in the southern Afghan province of Helmand, police say. | |
| Troops attacked rebel positions in two separate operations, district police officials said. There were no reported casualties among international troops. | |
| In recent weeks, the province of Helmand has seen some of the heaviest fighting between Nato and Afghan forces and the Taleban and their allies. | In recent weeks, the province of Helmand has seen some of the heaviest fighting between Nato and Afghan forces and the Taleban and their allies. |
| There has been no independent confirmation of the latest deaths. | |
| It was unclear if the foreign troops were from the US-led coalition or Nato. | |
| Helmand province is a major centre for opium production. | Helmand province is a major centre for opium production. |
| Arrests | |
| Helmand officials said the operations had been launched from the town of Gereshk and the provincial capital, Lashkar Gah, 40km (25 miles) to the south-west. | |
| Nato recently announced a big drive against the Taleban | |
| Gereshk district police chief, Habibullah Khan, told the AFP news agency troops had "captured Taleban ground". | |
| Provincial police chief Isau Khan told the same news agency: "In the anti-Taleban joint operation which started this morning... so far around 40 Taleban have been killed." | |
| He said about another 10 had been arrested. | |
| A Nato spokeswoman said she had no knowledge of any Nato involvement in the operation. US forces were unavailable for comment. | |
| Earlier in the day, US-led forces said they had detained two men near Gereshk they suspected were involved in "anti-government activity" in the area. | |
| Another five suspects were detained in the eastern province of Kunar. | |
| Bloodshed in Afghanistan last year returned to levels not seen since the fall of the Taleban in 2001, with the southern provinces of Helmand and Kandahar and areas in the east of the country particularly hard-hit. | |
| Some 4,000 people are believed to have died last year in the insurgency - about a quarter of them civilians. | |
| Nato and Afghan forces began what they said was their largest offensive to date against the Taleban in the south of the country earlier in March. | |
| Operation Achilles will eventually involve more than 4,500 Nato troops and nearly 1,000 Afghan soldiers in Helmand province, the alliance says. |