US led coalition airstrikes killed nearly a dozen Islamist Taliban fighters in the southern province of Zabul overnight, hours after President Hamid Karzai urged the Islamist militants to negotiate peace.
Afghan and US-led coalition troops called in air support after detecting a group of more than 20 Taliban preparing to ambush them near a village in the Arghandab district of the province yesterday, the US military said.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai
"Nearly a dozen Taliban fighters were killed during the brief engagement," it added, saying more than 245 Taliban had been killed in the southern provinces of Kandahar and Zabul since late August.
There were no independent accounts of how many people were killed or what happened. The Taliban were not immediately available for comment.
More than 7,000 people have been killed during the past 19 months in Afghanistan, the bloodiest period since the Taliban's US-led overthrow in 2001, after the group refused to hand over al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
Mr Karzai has repeatedly called for talks with the Taliban.
The Taliban have said they will only talk to the government once there are no more foreign troops in Afghanistan - a non-starter given the 50,000 foreign troops Mr Karzai wants to stay put for now.
"For the security and prosperity of the Afghan people, in order to be freed from al-Qaeda and terrorists and their inhuman actions, we are ready for any type of discussion and negotiations," Mr Karzai told a joint news conference with visiting Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende.
"Our sole objective is to bring peace and security for the Afghan people. We will do our best and will talk with everybody," he added.