Afghans, U.S. Kill Up to 70 Militants

In one of the bloodiest clashes since the fall of the Taliban, Afghan troops backed by U.S. warplanes killed as many as 70 militants in a daylong battle near the Pakistani border, military officials said Tuesday.

An Afghan commander said government forces heard their foes sending radio messages in Arabic and the Chechen language, suggesting that Al Qaeda fighters were involved. The main languages of Afghanistan are Dari and Pashto.

“We could hear the enemy,” said Gen. Nawab, an Afghan commander who uses one name. “I’m sure there were foreigners involved.”

Two Afghan soldiers were reported killed in the fighting.

The battle began about 2 a.m. Monday, when dozens of militants armed with rockets, mortars and machine guns hit a border post in Khowst province, a former Al Qaeda stronghold about 100 miles southeast of Kabul, the capital.

The U.S. military said it sent a B-1 bomber, A-10 ground-attack aircraft and helicopter gunships and flew in Afghan reinforcements, eventually forcing the assailants to flee.

U.S. spokesman Maj. Rick Peat said pilots reported seeing 40 to 50 bodies on the battlefield near the mountainous Pakistani border. Several wrecked vehicles also were seen.

Nawab put the rebel toll as high as 70, saying the militants dragged away many dead and wounded as they retreated into Pakistan. Afghan forces recovered only 10 bodies, he said.

The U.S. military said one of more than 100 Afghan soldiers involved in the fighting was killed and that three others were wounded. However, another Afghan commander, Gen. Khial Baz, said two of his men were killed.

Peat said no U.S. ground troops were involved.