British troops kill 6 Taliban attacking power plant

British forces returned fire with mortars after they also came under fire late Saturday near the Kajaki dam and power plant in southern Helmand province, a British military spokesman said.

"Suspected Taliban have fired mortars against Kajaki power plant for the past couple of nights," Captain Drew Jabson told AFP.

A British force went to the area on Saturday. "When they fired mortars at us, British troops fired back. We were able to confirm six Taliban killed," he said.

The plant is one of the few hydro-electricity-generating systems that functions in Afghanistan. It is in Kajaki district near Musa Qala and Sangin, where the Taliban are active.

"By this, the Taliban have shown their desire to fight people, destroy their infrastructure. Taliban have a cause to fight the people of Afghanistan and we are here to support the Afghan government," Jabson said.

There have been attempts to attack the dam in the past. The day before last year's September 18 parliamentary election, the first legislative election in around three decades, about 20 Taliban were arrested while planting bombs at the site.

Helmand has been hard-hit by an insurgency launched by the Taliban movement after it was removed from power in late 2001 by a US-led coalition.

The violence peaked last month in a two-week stretch in which about 400 people were killed, most of them Taliban.

There are around 3,300 British troops stationed in Helmand province as part of a US-led coalition force that is fighting the Taliban and their allies.