Up to 50 militants believed killed in Afghan border clash: U.S.

KABUL, Aug 3 (AFP) - Afghan troops backed by American soldiers and warplanes may have killed up to 50 militants in a day-long pitched battle at a southeastern border post near Pakistan, the US military said in a statement.
"The exact number of enemy casualties is unknown but pilots flying overhead estimated that approximately 40 to 50 insurgents were killed," the statement said.
One Afghan soldier was killed and three were wounded, it added.
The battle was among the heaviest since the hardline Taliban regime was ousted by US-led forces in late 2001.
Clashes erupted before dawn Monday at a border post between Khost province and Pakistan`s rugged western tribal region, where Al-Qaeda fighters have taken sanctuary and run militant training camps following the defeat of their Taliban hosts.
About 50 suspected Taliban insurgents attacked the post at 2:00 am Monday (2130 GMT Sunday) with rocket-propelled grenades, machineguns and mortars.
US air forces flew in B-1 bomber, A-10 Thunderbolt aircraft and attack helicopters to repel the insurgents, who "retreated in panic" at the sight of the fighter craft, the military said.
Five hours later the fighting broke out again and raged into Monday night.
An Afghan army commander and an interior ministry official revealed the border battle to AFP on Monday and said "dozens of Taliban" were killed but only four Afghan soldiers injured.
However, a purported Taliban spokesman Abdul Latif Hakimi denied the US claim, saying the Taliban had sustained no deaths and only two of their fighters had been wounded.
"Martyrdom and being wounded or disabled in jihad (holy war) is our pride. If we had anyone martyred we would announce that with pride. Why would we need to lie?" he told AFP by phone from an undisclosed location.
Attacks by militants have risen sharply in recent months as Taliban and other anti-government militia attempt to derail Afghanistan`s first presidential election.
Aid workers, election officials and civilians have also come under fire in addition to US-led troops and Afghan government forces.
Last week, two people, including one election worker, were killed in a blast at a mosque in southeastern Ghazni province, bringing to five the number of election workers murdered so far this year.
In the same week, Nobel prize-winning aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres announced its decision to pull out of the war-torn country after 24 years, saying deteriorating security had rendered it impossible to operate.
Loyalists of the ousted militia have vowed to disrupt the lead-up to country`s first presidential elections on October 9.
Afghan and US military officials complain that the insurgents slip over the border from Pakistan to stage attacks and retreat back into the neighbour`s tribal zone, thwarting pursuit by Afghan and US forces.