KHOST, Afghanistan (Reuters) - About 30 Taliban insurgents were killed in a NATO-led air strike in eastern Afghanistan after they attacked an Afghan police post, a police official and the alliance said on Sunday.
Afghan border police commander Sayed Nabi Mullahkhil said a police checkpoint in eastern Khost province, which shares a border with Pakistan, was attacked by militants overnight.
The privately owned Tolo TV station said 26 insurgents were killed, including one fighter from Chechnya.
A spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Kabul confirmed an air strike was carried out by foreign troops in Khost late on Saturday after Afghan police called for their assistance.
"Afghan forces came under attack and asked for assistance and we provided it in the form of air support," the spokesman said, declining to give any details of casualties.
General Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, has identified Khost province, the power base of insurgents loyal to the Haqqani family, as a battlefront, along with the neighbouring provinces of Paktia and Paktika.
(Reporting by Elyas Wahdat and Kamal Sadaat; Writing by Golnar Motevalli; Editing by Louise Ireland)
(c) Reuters 2012. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
