30 insurgents killed in eastern Afghanistan: NATO

Kabul: Insurgents attacked a convoy of Afghan and international troops on Friday in eastern Afghanistan, starting a firefight that left about 30 of the attacking militants dead, NATO said.

The joint Afghan-international force called for air support during the gunbattle in Shinwar district of Nangarhar province, the US-led coalition in Afghanistan said.

No other information was disclosed and it is unclear whether any Afghan or coalition forces were killed or wounded. NATO forces in Afghanistan have concentrated on Taliban strongholds in southern Afghanistan in the past several years, but more recently have shifted their focus to the east along the border with Pakistan.

The joint Afghan-international force called for air support during the gunbattle in Shinwar district of Nangarhar province.

In the south, a NATO service member was killed in a roadside bombing in the same restive province where the US-led alliance, a day earlier, had repelled a coordinated Taliban attack on a US-run civilian and military base.

The service member died as a result of an improvised explosive device in Kandahar province, the Taliban's traditional stronghold, NATO said in a statement that did not provide additional details.

The death raises to 480 the number of coalition forces killed in Afghanistan so far this year.

Earlier, the US-led alliance said its troops, in tandem with Afghan police, repulsed yesterday a Taliban attack on a camp in Kandahar that is home to NATO troops, including Americans, and a provincial reconstruction team.

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