'More than 100 Taliban killed' as Helmand fighting erupts

Afghan troops fought through the night on Saturday after the provincial capital Lashkar Gah was surrounded by 200 heavily armed Taliban, who were trying to take the city for the first time.

Apache helicopter gunships, backed by Predator drones and RAF fighters, launched a series of air strikes to push the Taliban back. Royal Marines and SAS personnel were on constant standby.

A file picture of a Royal Marine mobile patrol leaving Lashkar Gah where Taliban fighters used rockets and heavy weapons to attack Afghan forces on Sunday

At least 60 insurgents were killed in eight hours of bitter fighting on four sides of the city, where senior British officers, development staff and diplomats are based.

Taliban fighters used rockets and heavy weapons to attack Afghan forces on the outskirts of Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province, said Daud Ahmadi, spokesman for Helmand's governor.

Militants attacked the city from three sides just after midnight, and were pushed back only after a battle that involved airstrikes, Ahmadi said.

Rockets landed in different parts of the city, but there were no civilian casualties, he said.

NATO said its aircraft bombed insurgents after they were seen gathering for a major attack, killing 'multiple enemy forces,' the military alliance said in a statement.

'If the insurgents planned a spectacular attack prior to the winter, this was a spectacular failure,' said Brig. Gen. Richard Blanchette, the spokesman for the NATO-led force.

Authorities recovered the bodies of 41 Taliban fighters on the city's outskirts, said Ahmadi.

Citing intelligence reports, he estimated the bodies of another 20 fighters were taken from the battle site by militants.

British forces are responsible for protecting the area around Lashkar Gah.

In a second battle in Helmand province, Afghan and international troops retook the Nad Ali district center - which had been held by militants - during a three-day fight, Ahmadi said.

That battle, which also involved airstrikes, ended Saturday.

Afghan police and soldiers were now in control of the district center. There were no casualties among Afghan or NATO troops, Ahmadi said.

Ahmadi's death tolls could not be verified independently and journalists are not able to travel to the remote and dangerous battle sites. Afghan officials have been known to exaggerate death tolls in the past.

The NATO-led force said it was aware of fighting in Helmand, but could not provide any information.

Helmand province is the largest drug-producing area in the world, and the region alone accounts for more than half of Afghanistan's production of opium poppies.

More than 90 percent of the world's opium is produced in Afghanistan, and up to US$100 million of the trade's profits are used to finance the Taliban insurgency.

Insurgency-related violence has killed more than 4,700 people - mostly militants - this year, according to an Associated Press count of figures from Western and Afghan officials.

A roadside bomb, meanwhile, struck a civilian vehicle traveling in Shamulzai district of Zabul province on Sunday, killing five people, said Ghulab Shah Alikheil, a provincial official.

Alikheil blamed Taliban militants for planting the bomb.