Kabul  - US-led coalition military sources Thursday reported that 20 suspected Taliban militants were killed in an airstrike on Wednesday.

The airstrike was prompted after the Taliban forces attacked Afghan and international troops in southern Afghanistan.

The latest death toll raised the total number of militants killed in the past three days in Afghanistan's southern region to 80.

Dozens of Taliban militants attacked combined Afghan and coalition forces in Kajaki district of southern Helmand province on Wednesday, sparking a fierce gunfight, the US military said in a statement.

The joint forces returned fire and forced the militants to withdraw to their secondary fighting position, the statement said, adding, "Once the combined elements ensured there were no non- combatants in the area, a precision strike was called to neutralize the enemy."

"Twenty militants were killed in the engagement," the statement said, stressing that no Afghan, coalition troops or civilians were killed in the battle.

Southern Helmand, which is the largest opium-producing province in the country, is also the main hub for the Taliban and their al-Qaeda associates.

The Afghan police - backed by NATO troops - killed 30 Taliban, including one of their commanders, in the same Kajaki district on Tuesday. A day earlier, another 30 militants were killed in a separate operation in the neighbouring province of Uruzgan.

Fighting is expected to increase as the weather in the southern and eastern regions, the main areas for Taliban-led insurgents' activities, turns warmer. Traditionally, in Afghanistan, there is a spike in violence in the spring and summer, following a lull in winter months. (dpa)