At least seven Taliban insurgents were killed in an airstrike in southern Uruzgan province of Afghanistan.
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The U.S. military command in Kabul confirmed that U.S. forces carried out an air strike in the area, saying they sought to assist Afghan national security forces who were fired on by the Taliban.
The Taliban have been advancing on the city in recent weeks.
Meanwhile, the Taliban also said a number of policemen had been killed in American raids in Tirinkot.
The NATO command centre in Kabul confirmed United States warplanes had conducted an air strike in the area, but said they targeted individuals posing a threat to Afghan forces.
“We don’t have any more info on who those individuals might have been or why they were assaulting ANDSF (Afghan national defense and security forces)”, USA military representative Brigadier General Charles Cleveland said in a statement. “But Afghan and U.S. forces reserve the right to retaliate in self-defence”, Gen. Cleveland said.
“We don’t know who the gunmen firing at Afghan forces were”.
North Atlantic Treaty Organisation officially ended its combat mission in December 2014, but U.S. forces got more power in June to strike at the insurgents as President Barack Obama vowed a more aggressive campaign.
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Afghan security forces, supported by American air strikes and global military advisers, are battling the Taliban who have fought a 15-year insurgency against the Western-backed government in Kabul.
