> By AMIR SHAH, Associated Press Writer Thu Mar 13, 6:30 AM ET
>
> http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080313/ap_on_re_as/afghanistan;_ylt=Av5yYCffeul.h_h...
>
> KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghan and international forces killed 41 Taliban
> militants in a battle in southern Afghanistan, and a suicide car bomb attack
> on a convoy of U.S. troops left six Afghan civilians dead in Kabul, U.S. and
> Afghan officials said Thursday.
>
> None of the four American troops traveling in the two armored vehicles of
> the convoy was badly wounded in the Thursday attack, said Lt. Col. David
> Johnson, a spokesman for U.S. forces. The troops were traveling in one SUV
> and one truck, he said.
> Six Afghan civilians were killed and up to 20 others wounded in the blast,
> Deputy Interior Minister Munir Mangal said. The attacker was driving a white
> Toyota Corolla, he said, a favorite among suicide car bombers.
>
> In a mobile phone text message to an Associated Press reporter in Pakistan,
> Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid identified the suicide bomber as
> Abdullah.
>
> The suicide car bomb turned into a fiery hull that burned on the main
> airport road long after the attack, which also damaged several other
> vehicles.
>
> U.S. troops and international security contractors surrounded the area after
> the blast.
>
> Insurgents detonated 160 suicide attacks in 2007, a record number, the U.N.
> has said. Last year was the deadliest in the country since the 2001 U.S.-led
> invasion with more than 8,000 insurgency related deaths year, the U.N. said.
>
> In southern Helmand province, Afghan and international forces attacked
> Taliban militants Wednesday morning as they traveled by motorcycle toward
> the Pakistan border, said Ghulam Dastagir Azad, governor of neighboring
> Nimroz province.
>
> The troops employed airstrikes during the four-hour battle and killed 41
> militants, including 17 from Nimroz, he said. A Taliban commander from
> Nimroz was among the dead.
>
> The U.S.-led coalition could not confirm the attack. NATO said they were
> looking into the report, but did not immediately have any information.
>
> In other violence, U.S.-led coalition and Afghan forces killed nearly a
> dozen suspected militants in Helmand during a clash Tuesday in Garmsir
> district, the coalition said in a statement. The troops had been searching
> compounds for Taliban traffickers of weapons and foreign fighters when they
> were came under fire.
>
> In Wardak province, a remote-controlled bomb hit a police vehicle Thursday
> in Saydabad district, killing one policeman and wounding four others, said
> district police investigator Mohibullah Khan.
>
> In Zabul province, Afghan security forces and NATO troops launched an
> operation Wednesday against Chechen fighters meeting in Daychopan district,
> said district chief Fazel Bari. The ensuing two-hour gun battle left three
> Chechens dead and six wounded, he said.
>
> On Wednesday in Farah province, authorities recovered the dead body of the
> Pusht Rod district police chief, a day after he was kidnapped along with
> five other policemen, said Bariyalai Khan, spokesman for the Farah
> provincial police. There was no information on the fates of the five other
> men
>
>