Militants die in U.S.-led strike

KABUL, Afghanistan — U.S.-led forces rained fire on militants near Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan for two days, officials said Monday. The attacks killed about 55 insurgents.

The battle in eastern Paktika province was the second in the past week to reportedly inflict major casualties on militants, whom Afghan officials insist are swarming in from strongholds in Pakistan.

Pakistan’s government on Monday reiterated an offer to fence the craggy, 1,500-mile frontier — a project begun but abandoned last year amid criticism that it would only enrage the tribes who straddle the frontier and among whom the Taliban find many recruits.

The battle in Paktika began Friday morning, when militants armed with rockets and guns ambushed troops from the U.S.-led coalition patrolling a road in Ziruk district, the coalition said. The troops returned fire and called in airstrikes.

Fighting continued until Sunday morning, and the majority of the deaths were from the airstrikes, coalition spokesman Capt. Christian Patterson said. About 55 militants died, 25 others were wounded and three were detained, he said.

The clash was the second in a week to inflict heavy casualties on insurgents, who have little answer to Western airpower.

The Afghan Defense Ministry said its soldiers counted the bodies of 94 militants after a joint operation with NATO forces last week in Arghandab, a valley just outside the southern city of Kandahar.

According to an Associated Press tally based on statements from military and government officials, 465 people have died in insurgency-related violence this month. For the year to date, the tally is nearing 2,000, most of them militants.

Also Monday, the U.S. military announced the death of Marine Sgt. Matthew Mendoza, 24, of San Antonio, Texas, who died Friday while conducting combat operations in Helmand province. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Twentynine Palms, Calif.