Eight militants killed in Afghan battle

KABUL, Afghanistan – U.S. troops and warplanes attacked Taliban rebels besieging a remote checkpoint in southern Afghanistan, an Afghan official said Saturday. Eight militants were killed.

American forces also skirmished with guerrillas who attacked them with rockets near the country’s eastern border, the U.S. military said.

The battle for the checkpoint was in Daychopan district of Zabul province, about 200 miles southwest of the capital, Kabul, provincial military commander Naimatullah Khan said.

Khan said Afghan troops used a satellite phone to call for help when a band of 200 Taliban crept down from the mountains and opened fire on the checkpoint in an area called Hazar Boosth.

“Coalition planes bombed the area and, after a four-hour gunfight, the Taliban pulled back into the mountains,” Khan said. “Eight of them were killed. We’ve gathered up their bodies and guns.”