Kabul, March 23:

Afghan and international forces killed dozens of Taliban militants in an air and ground strike a day after three foreign soldiers were killed in rebel bombings, the government said todays.

“Dozens of terrorists” were killed in the operations yesterday in the southern province of Uruzgan and their bodies remained on the ground, the defence ministry said.

It did not give a number of dead because of a policy of not issuing a precise number of rebel dead, but a high-ranking ministry official said on condition of anonymity that more than 40 Taliban were killed.

The dead included the man commanding the group, the ministry said.

More than 40 weapons, including rockets and heavy machine guns, as well as a police vehicle were seized after the operation, it said.

The US-led coalition said however only “more than a dozen” Taliban were killed.

Troops had called in air power against the rebels after they had tried to ambush a security patrol of international and Afghan forces with rocket-propelled grenades and gunfire.

The Taliban are waging an insurgency that is particularly active in southern and eastern Afghanistan, where the Islamic rebels are said to have some local support.

The ministry said Afghan and foreign soldiers did not suffer any casualties in the operation, one of the deadliest reported for the insurgents this year.