Kabul  - Afghan and coalition forces killed several insurgents in two separate incidents in southern Afghanistan, while the combined forces also destroyed an ammunition cache in the same region, the military said Tuesday.

The clash between the coalition forces and Taliban insurgents happened on Saturday in Zabul province when a group of insurgents attacked the combined forces with small arms fire, the US military said in a statement.

The combined forces repelled the insurgent attack with small-arms fire and close-air support, killing the insurgents, the statement added.

In a separate incident on April 10, several other insurgents were killed in a fight with Afghan and coalition forces near the Aminah Kalay area in the same Zabul province, a separate US military statement said.

The firefight was triggered after the insurgents attempted to ambush the joint forces, the statement said, adding that several insurgents were killed in retaliation fire and airstrike.

The statement did not say if there were any casualties among the joint forces during the two operations.

Meanwhile, in Khas Uruzgan of neighboring Uruzgan province, the combined forces discovered "a substantial amount of improvised explosive device materials" and called in an airstrike to destroy the munitions. (dpa)