KABUL (Reuters):Dozens of militants were killed in southern and eastern Afghanistan overnight in clashes with United States-led foreign troops and Afghan forces, officials said on Saturday.
A foreign coalition serviceman was also killed and two injured in Helmand province as days of sporadic, widespread clashes continued.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai, meanwhile, called for greater care by foreign forces engaging insurgents after a spate of civilian deaths.
A spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said troops clashed with a large group of insurgents near the porous Pakistan border in Paktika province, killing around 40 of them and wounding several others.
He said it was the biggest concentration of insurgent strength since January, when over 100 were killed while crossing the border.
In the Sha Wali Kot district of Kandahar province, at least 20 suspected Taliban militants were killed in aseven-hour gunbattle. Several others were killed in at least three other engagements, the U.S. military said.
A statement from the U.S.-led foreign force said a coalition soldier was killed and two others injured when their patrol was attacked in Helmand province. Their nationality was not immediately released.
Better coordination needed
Violence has surged in Afghanistan in recent months after a traditional winter lull, with foreign forces attacking Taliban strongholds in the south and east, and the guerrillas hitting back with roadside and suicide bombings.
More than 4,000 people were killed in fighting in 2006, a quarter of them civilians and about 170 of them foreign soldiers.
In Kabul, Karzai said those fighting the insurgents were being "careless" following a spate of civilian deaths including 25 killed in an air strike on a compound in the south on Friday.
"In the past five or six nights and days, we had huge civilian casualties ... caused by NATO and coalition carelessness," he told a news briefing.
Karzai called for better coordination between foreign forces and Afghan authorities. "If NATO wants to succeed in the war against terror, if they want security in Afghanistan, they should coordinate," he said.
More than 230 civilians have been killed this year during operations by foreign and Afghan forces, according to an umbrella body for aid groups in Afghanistan.
Some 20 militants, meanwhile, were detained in operations early on Saturday against al Qaeda at three compounds in Giro district of Ghazni Province, the U.S. military said.
