KABUL, May 5: Forty suspected Taliban rebels were killed in a battle with US and Afghan troops, the US military said on Thursday, doubling the toll from the bloodiest firefights since the regime launched a spring offensive. Initial reports said only 20 militants died in the clash on Tuesday in southeastern Zabul province, along with an Afghan police officer, while six US servicemen and five Afghan police were injured, the US military said.

“Today, further reports indicate that the toll is going up to 40 for rebels,” said Lieutenant Cindy Moore, a US coalition spokeswoman.

The clash in the troubled district of Deh Chopan was sparked when militants kidnapped three local doctors and police tried to free them, Afghan interior minister Ali Ahmed Jalali told a press conference.

“Finally the three doctors were freed safely,” he added.

US warplanes and gunship helicopters were also called in to help the troops on the ground, the US military said.

The renewed Taliban military drive has left at least 100 insurgents and 12 police dead as the weather has become warmer in past one month, Jalali told reporters.

One Afghan policeman was killed in another clash between militants and Afghan and coalition forces on Wednesday in Zabul on Wednesday.—AFP