DHAKA: At least 100 Taliban militants have been killed in fighting around four military checkpoints in southern Afghanistan.

Local officials say, reports the BBC.

Five days of clashes in Sangin district in Helmand province left 35 civilians and at least 21 Afghan troops dead.

Tribal elders in the area say over 2,000 families have been displaced.

Three US soldiers died just last week in an explosion in Helmand. Last month, British troops left their last outpost, withdrawing to the Camp Bastion base.

Sangin district in northern Helmand is regarded as a strategic area as drug dealers and Taliban insurgents have been active in the area, and they often work together, reports the BBC in Kabul. The district lies on the border with Pakistan. 

There is no independent confirmation of the number of dead. The militants said on Tuesday that only two of their fighters had been killed and that more than 40 soldiers had died.

The Afghan military does not have its own air force and President Karzai has banned it from asking for Nato air power to be used in populated areas, our correspondent notes.

BDST: 2011 HRS, JUNE 25, 2014