More than 50 Taliban killed in southern Afghan battle

US-led coalition and Afghan soldiers "routed" a large number of Taliban fighters in a two-day battle in southern Afghanistan's poppy-growing heartland, killing more than 50 suspected militants, the coalition said Monday.

The battle in Helmand province's Sangin district saw the insurgents attempt to shoot down an aircraft and attack soldiers with a suicide car bomb, the coalition said. Coalition aircraft dropped four bombs during the engagement, and Afghan forces counted "more than four dozen" insurgents killed, it said. (AP)