KABUL: Over 100 Taleban fighters were killed in a weekend clash that left eight US soldiers dead, NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said Tuesday.

“A more detailed battlefield assessment following the Oct. 3 attack in Nuristan has determined that enemy forces suffered more than 100 dead during the well-coordinated defense,” a statement said.

Hundreds of militant fighters on Saturday swept down a remote hillside at dawn near the mountainous border with Pakistan to attack two Afghan army and NATO outposts.

The resulting firefight lasted into the night and prompted US troops to call in air strikes.

The loss of eight US soldiers was NATO’s biggest loss of life in a single incident since 10 French soldiers were killed in an ambush, also in eastern Afghanistan, in August 2008. Two Afghan soldiers and a police officer also lost their lives in the weekend attacks, for which the Taleban claimed responsibility.

Some 13 police officers and two Afghan journalists working for a radio station set up with US help were captured, local officials said.

ISAF said Tuesday the attack was conducted by “local anti-Afghan forces,” possibly helped by the Taleban Hizb-i-Islami militia of Pashtun warlord and anti-American former Afghan prime minister, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.

According to an independent website, icasualties.org, 400 foreign troops have died in Afghanistan this year, making 2009 the deadliest since the war began 8 years ago.

Pakistani Taleban claim deadly UN office attack

Meanwhile, Pakistani Taleban said Tuesday they carried out the suicide attack on a UN compound that killed five aid workers and closed UN offices nationwide in the worst attack in the capital in months.

Four Pakistanis and an Iraqi were killed Monday when a man dressed in military uniform breached strict security measures and detonated explosives in the heavily fortified office of the World Food Program (WFP) in Islamabad.

Azam Tariq, a spokesman for the umbrella Tehreek-e-Taleban Pakistan (TTP) movement, vowed further onslaughts against foreign and local targets.

“This attack was launched by us — we claim responsibility,” Tariq said by telephone from an undisclosed location.