KABUL, 12 August 2007 — Coalition warplanes were called in to help a military convoy under attack in southern Afghanistan in a daylong battle estimated to have killed a dozen insurgents, the US-led force said yesterday.

About 30 rebels ambushed the reconnaissance patrol from three hilltops as it was moving through the southern province of Kandahar Friday, the coalition said in a statement.

The attackers opened fire on the soldiers with heavy machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire, it said.

The soldiers retaliated and called in fighter planes for help when the rebels began reinforcing their positions.

“An estimated dozen insurgents were killed in the battle,” the coalition said. An Afghan and a coalition soldier were wounded.

A large group of women and children was seen leaving the area before the attack and there were no signs of civilian casualties, it said. Afghan officials were not immediately available to comment. The fighting was in the remote and mountainous Myanishen district, which was held by the Taleban for a few days in June.

The ambush follows similar large attacks on Afghan and international troops over the past week, with heavy fighting leaving dozens dead.

Afghan and NATO-led troops came under attack in the western province of Badghis on Friday, sparking fighting that left 20 rebels and seven soldiers dead.

The coalition said 10 militants were confirmed killed when troops fought off an ambush in the southern Helmand province Thursday, but scores more were believed dead or wounded. It has not updated the toll.

On Tuesday about 75 rebels attacked a base in the southern Uruzgan. US-led coalition forces said they killed more than 20 to repel the attack.

Kandahar was the first province taken by the Taleban when it swept to power in 1996. The hard-line Islamic militia was driven from government in late 2001 by a US-led coalition and is now waging an Al-Qaeda-backed insurgency.

Meanwhile, a rocket was fired on the Afghan capital yesterday, the Interior Ministry said, as Afghan and Pakistani politicians and tribesmen held a third day of talks on ways to combat Al-Qaeda and Taleban attacks in their countries.

The rocket landed in an open ground in Kabul, several kms away from a high security zone where the grand peace jirga, or assembly, between the two countries is going on.

There was no damage or casualties, the interior ministry said, adding one suspect had been taken into custody. It was not clear whether the jirga had been targeted.