AFGHANISTAN - Apr 19 - 27 Taliban Killed, 2 Coalition Soldiers Wounded In Afghan Violence.

US-led coalition and Afghan forces clash with Taliban fighters and called in an airstrike in southern Afghanistan, killing 24 suspected militants, while three more die in an ambush in the west. NATO troops, meanwhile, shot at a civilian vehicle in eastern Khost province, killing a 12-year-old girl and wounding another one, age 2, said provincial police chief Muhammad Ayub. The joint coalition and Afghan forces battled Taliban fighters for seven hours after they were ambushed while patrolling in the volatile Sangin district of Helmand province, a coalition statement said. Acting on an intelligence report of militant activity involving 40 Taliban, coalition forces then called an airstrike, the statement said. The battle left 24 militants dead, while two coalition soldiers suffered minor injuries and were in stable condition, it said. NATO and Afghan troops launched their largest-ever offensive last month in southern Afghanistan to flush out Taliban militants from the northern tip of opium-producing Helmand province. Scores of militants have been killed in a campaign supposed to open the way for economic development and persuade Afghans to support the feeble government of Pres Hamid Karzai. However, the effort has been marred by a mounting number of civilian casualties caused by international forces as well as militants. NATO said the incident in Khost occurred after a convoy stopped to set up a checkpoint while soldiers cleared unexploded ordnance in the province's Sabari district. It said a vehicle moved around a line of waiting cars and approached the checkpoint, ignoring verbal warnings and hand signals to stop. One soldier fired several warning shots and then "engaged the vehicle. One of the rounds struck the first girl", a NATO statement said. She died later at a nearby NATO base, it said. A helicopter transported the second girl to another NATO base for treatment, it said. It gave no details of her injuries or condition. "They (NATO troops) fired on the vehicle because they thought it might have explosives", said Ayub, the Khost police chief. In other violence, US special forces and Afghan troops clashed with insurgents disguised as police officers in western Herat province, the coalition said. The militants, wearing fake police uniforms, opened fire on the troops as they approached an illegal checkpoint in Shind and district, the coalition said in a statement. It said the patrol returned fire, killing three militants and wounding three others. In Kapisa province, 60 kms northeast of Kabul, police and Afghan soldiers were preparing an assault on a group of militants in Tagab district, said provincial police chief Gen. Muhammad Eawaz Muzlim. Authorities have been battling militants in the area since Apr 16, leaving 10 suspected militants dead and six policemen wounded, said Kapisa deputy police chief Jalal Khan.