KABUL, 31 July 2006 — US-led coalition forces and Afghan police killed 20 suspected Taleban in the latest fighting to hit southern Afghanistan, as NATO prepared yesterday to take command in the insurgency-wracked region. In other violence, four more militants died when land mines they were planting on roads in southern Kandahar province exploded, an Afghan official said.

The US anti-terror coalition is due to formally hand over today control of security operations to a NATO-led force that has deployed about 8,000 mostly British, Canadian and Dutch troops into the south. The deployment has coincided with the deadliest upsurge in fighting since US-backed forces ousted the Taleban regime in late 2001 for hosting Osama Bin Laden, mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks on America.

On Saturday, a joint force of coalition and Afghan troops, backed by “lethal” air power, killed 20 suspected Taleban militants who had attempted an ambush in Shahidi Hassas district of Uruzgan province, a coalition statement said.

There were no casualties among coalition or Afghan forces, it said. In Kandahar province, three militants blew themselves up Saturday as they laid an explosive on a road in Arghistan district of Kandahar province, said Daoud Ahmadi, a spokesman for the provincial governor.

Then early yesterday, another suspected Taleban died when a land mine he was planting on a highway in Shah Wali Kot district north of Kandahar city exploded, Ahmadi said. Taleban-led fighters have escalated roadside bombings and suicide attacks this year, and have also mounted brazen attacks on several small towns and district police stations — a tactic rarely seen in the previous four years. International forces, backed by Afghan Army, have meted out a tough response.

Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Zahir Azimi said a 50-day operation, dubbed Mountain Thrust, has resulted in the deaths of at least 613 militants. Some 87 others were wounded and about 300 arrested, he said. Azimi said between 13 and 16 civilians had also died. He declined to give details of Afghan and coalition casualties. According to an Associated Press count of coalition figures, at least 19 coalition troops have died in Afghanistan during the same period.

British Lt. Gen. David Richards, commander of NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, said Saturday that Operation Mountain Thrust would wind down as NATO takes over in the south, but its force will “keep up the tempo” of operations against insurgents.