KABUL (AFP) - Twenty-two suspected Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants, including three Arabs, were killed in a fierce gun-battle with US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan, the US military revealed.
"Twenty-two anti-coalition militias were killed -- three of them were Arabs," military spokesman Major Scott Nelson told a news conference in Kabul.
Another three suspected militants, including an Arab whose nationality was not disclosed, were captured in the fighting which took place overnight, he said Monday.
The fighting erupted late Sunday night after about 40 militants armed with AK-47s, rocket-propelled grenades and a global positioning system attacked US soldiers patrolling in Shinkay, a troubled district in southeastern Zabul province, some 340 kilometers (210 miles) southeast of Kabul, Nelson said.
The troops also seized a video camera and several tapes, but the spokesman declined to disclose their content.
"Our soldiers were out doing a cordon search they were engaged by a large force of anti-coalition militias ... around 40," he said. "Skirmishes continued throughout the night."
No coalition soldiers were hurt in the fighting which involved two US Apache gunship helicopters, he added.
Zabul, which neighbors Pakistan, is a stronghold for Taliban fighters ousted by a US-led military offensive in late 2001.
Nearly three years after they were forced from power the Taliban and their Al-Qaeda allies still carry out attacks on US and pro-Afghan military.
Militants have also attacked electoral workers preparing for historic October 9 presidential polls, which the Taliban have vowed to disrupt.
In a separate incident several suspected Taliban militants ambushed a US-led convoy in neighboring Kandahar province on Sunday but there were no coalition casualties, Nelson said.
"It was an attempted ambush. They (Taliban) engaged our vehicles, we engaged with them -- a number of the Taliban might have been killed, I`m not sure," he said.
The attacks by Taliban and Al-Qaeda insurgents and fractional unrest in northwestern Herat province have fueled instability in the war-shattered country ahead of the landmark elections.
However, Nelson said the situation in Herat was calm Monday after thousands of people, mainly supporters of western strongman Ismael Khan, attacked UN offices and Kabul-dispatched troops following Khan`s sacking as governor of Herat by President Hamid Karzai.
During the two-days of unrest in Herat protesters attacked several UN and non-governmental agencies as well Afghan and US forces in violence that left four people dead and dozens, including three US soldiers, injured.
Three Afghan national army soldiers were also injured, Nelson said.
Some 18,500 coalition soldiers are in Afghanistan hunting down remnants of the Taliban and other insurgent groups.
A battalion-strong coalition force has recently been deployed in the northwestern part of the country, including Herat, to maintain security.