Kabul  - Ten suspected Taliban fighters were killed and four others were wounded in separate clashes with US-led coalition forces in eastern Afghanistan, the US military said on Wednesday.

The combined forces targeted a senior Taliban commander in Zormat district of the south-eastern province of Paktia on Tuesday, US military said in a statement.

As the forces approached the targeted area, a group of militants barricaded inside a compound fired on the troops with small arms fire, the statement said, adding the joint forces returned fire and killed five armed militants.

Kabul - Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Tuesday asked the United Nations Security Council to put an end to civilian casualties caused by UN-mandated international forces, the Afghan presidential palace reported.

Karzai, who has pleaded with NATO to avoid civilian deaths during their anti-terrorism operations in Afghanistan, repeated his frustration in a meeting with UN Security Council representatives in his presidential palace in Kabul, Karzai's office said in a statement.

Islamabad, Nov 25 : The Chairman of the Pakistan Senate Defence Committee, Senator Nisar A. Memon, has strongly criticized the presence of Indian troops in Afghanistan.

“We have conveyed our reservations to the respective countries and have demanded end to this un-mandated presence,” The Pakistan Post quoted Memon, as saying.

He was talking to reporters on his arrival from a week-long visit to the UK and Brussels.

Kandahar - A provincial governor said Tuesday that Afghan security forces arrested 10 suspected Taliban in connection with an acid attack against 15 girls in southern Afghanistan last month.

"The 10 men were arrested by Afghan security forces in the past week," Rahmtullah Raoufi, governor for southern Kandahar province, told a press conference on Tuesday.

Raoufi said several of the detained men confessed to their crimes and the interrogation was ongoing.

He said each man received about 1,200 dollars from "high-ranking Taliban" allegedly living in neighbouring Pakistan.

Kabul - Fourteen members of United Nations Security Council arrived on a three-day trip in Kabul on Monday to assess Afghanistan's progress in peace building, reconstruction, security and governance, the UN body said.

The delegation, which is headed by Giulio Terzi, ambassador of Italy in the Security Council, was scheduled to meet President Hamid Karzai and other government leaders.

"Included on their agenda are meetings relating to security, governance, human rights, economics and social development," the UN office in Kabul said in a statement.

Kabul  - US-led troops killed a female civilian and nineteen militants in a clash and airstrike in southern Afghanistan, while nine rebels including a senior commander and two policemen were killed in separate attacks, officials said Sunday.

Afghan and coalition forces killed 17 insurgents during an airstrike in Shah Wali Kot district of southern Kandahar province on Saturday, US military said in a statement.

The combined forces received small arms fire and rocket propelled grenades as they targeted a "safe haven" of insurgents in the area, the statement said.

The joint forces "returned fire with (light weapons) and supporting fire on the insurgent fighting positions, killing 17 militants."