"Based on intelligence reports indicating insurgent activities, international forces carried out an air strike in Logal area of Bargi Matal district, leaving 18 armed insurgents dead," police chief Zahid Nuristani of Nuristan province, 180 km from the capital city Kabul, told Xinhua.
He said there were no reports of civilian casualties.
The mountainous Nuristan and neighbouring Kunar province are regarded as Taliban hotbeds.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed to media on phone from an undisclosed location that 16 Taliban fighters were killed. But he also claimed his fighters killed over a dozen Afghan and NATO-led troopers.
Published 18 September 2011, 03:59 IST