ISLAMABAD, Nov 8: US bombing in northern Afghanistan on Thursday killed 85 fighters of a militant group allied with the ruling Taliban, a spokesman for the Harkat Jihad-i-Islami group said.

Many Harkat fighters were also wounded in the bombing on the Dara-i-Suf area of Samangan province south of the key northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, spokesman Kamal Azfar told Reuters.

No independent confirmation was available for the report, which would mark the deadliest known attack on foreign fighters in Afghanistan since a US raid killed about 35 members of another militant group in Kabul last month.

Azfar said his group had a presence in the area to help the Taliban movement fight the opposition Northern Alliance. But he declined to give the number of Harkat fighters in the area.

The Northern Alliance, helped by the 33-day-old US air strikes against the Taliban, has reported advances in the area with the aim of capturing Mazar-i-Sharif, the Balkh provincial capital that could provide it a vital supply route.—Reuters