Afghan forces kill 11 suspected Taliban

U.S.-led coalition and Afghan troops clashed with suspected Taliban militants in eastern Afghanistan Thursday, killing 11 rebels.

The U.S.-led troops called in airstrikes on the Taliban fighters after the joint U.S.-Afghan patrol was ambushed by the militants in Uruzgan province, the coalition said in a statement. There were no reports of U.S. or Afghan casualties in the clash.

Elsewhere, a roadside bomb targeting a police patrol vehicle left five officers dead and another wounded in Khost province, said Wazir Pacha, a spokesman for the provincial police chief.

The victims were part of a joint U.S-Afghan patrol, Pacha said. No U.S.-led coalition troops were injured in the morning blast.

Also Thursday, a NATO soldier was killed and two others were wounded during an operation in southern Afghanistan, the alliance said in a statement.

NATO did not disclose soldiers' nationalities or the exact location of the operation.

Violence has spiked in Afghanistan in the last six weeks. More than 3,200 people, mostly militants, have died in insurgency-related violence this year, according a count by The Associated Press based on numbers from Afghan and Western officials.