GARDEZ, Afghanistan, 12 April 2005 — Twelve suspected Taleban militants died yesterday in air strikes by US helicopter gunships and tank-buster jets in southeastern Afghanistan, officials said.

Two members of the US-led coalition were also injured after fighting broke out early yesterday in Paktia province, a hotbed of activity by Afghanistan’s ousted Taleban regime.

The battle began when insurgents fired a dozen rockets in a bid to kill a former Afghan military chief on a road between Kabul and Gardez, the capital of Paktia province, security commander Ghulam Nabi Salem told AFP. Kheyal Baaz Khan Sherzai, the ex-military commander of neighboring Khost province, survived the attack.

“But Afghan forces chased the attackers in the mountains and the fighting began. It lasted until late afternoon,” Salem said. US-led military air support was then called in, he added. Twelve insurgents were killed and their bodies were recovered by local troops and US-led forces.

“We recovered the bodies of 12 Taleban in Shiwak’s mountains,” Salem said, referring to a mountainous district some 35 kilometers south of Gardez.

Taleban spokesman Mulla Abdul Latif Hakimi told the Afghan Islamic Press agency that the insurgents lost “only one fighter.”

In a phone call to the Pakistan-based news agency he denied Afghan official claims that 12 militants had been killed.

The US military confirmed that its air and ground forces were engaged in the incident but did not confirm the Taleban fatalities.

“In Gardez there was a request from coalition forces for assistance. The coalition did assist with A-10s and helicopters,” US military spokeswoman Lt. Cindy Moore told AFP.

A-10s, nicknamed Warthogs for their ungainly looks, are heavily armed jets famed for their ability to take out tanks and armored vehicles. “My understanding is two coalition members were wounded but are in stable condition,” Moore said. She did not say how they were injured.

An AFP correspondent in the area saw at least four US helicopters and a jet flying overhead near Shiwak and also heard loud bangs, similar to air bombardment.

The battle comes in the midst of an apparent spring offensive by the Taleban, who have emerged from Afghanistan’s harshest winter for a decade to launch a string of attacks on US and Afghan forces.