WORLD> Middle East
US: 22 militants killed in Afghan clashes
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-01-20 14:44

KABUL, Afghanistan – The US-led coalition in Afghanistan says 22 militants have been killed and 11 others detained during a series of clashes throughout the country.

An Afghan security officer steps on a wreckage of the suicide attacker's car near US Forward Operating Base Chapman in the city of Khost, Afghanistan, January 19, 2009.  [Agencies]

The coalition statement says its troops were forced to use hand grenades in one of the clashes in the southern province of Kandahar on Monday.

In the east, troops used airstrikes in their clash with militants in Kapisa province, killing 19 militants.

Violence has been rising across Afghanistan over the last two years, and the United States is rushing thousands of new troops to counter a resurgence in Taliban-led violence following the initial defeat of the militant group in the US invasion in 2001.