Major anti-Taliban drive on in Afghanistan

The US-led coalition in the capital meanwhile flatly denied claims it had killed scores of civilians in air strikes in southern Helmand province's Nawzad area, accusing the Taliban of lying for propaganda reasons.

Elsewhere in Helmand -- in Sangin district -- Afghan, British, Canadian and US troops pushed on with a major drive against Taliban fighters that was launched early Saturday.

"The last time the three countries were together on such a scale was during the Korean War (in the early 1950s)," coalition spokesman Major Scott Lundy said.

The coalition was not allowed to divulge how many troops were involved in the operation in Sangin, where five British soldiers have been killed in hostile action in the past month, but Lundy said "thousands" were taking part.

Helmand police announced meanwhile that 27 Taliban were killed in a battle in Sangin late Saturday and eight more in another clash in the same district. Two more were killed in neighouring Uruzgan province, a provincial official said.

Sangin, 70km north of the provincial capital Lashkar Gah, has seen regular clashes with Taliban fighters who are said to have joined forces with drugs barons in Helmand, the country's top opium-producing province.

A British base there has also been attacked several times, ranging from major assaults to potshots.

"We are going to continue until we are confident that the security situation has changed to the point when we can meet with the local population in a Shura (council)," Lundy said in the southern city of Kandahar.