KABUL, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- At least 74 Taliban militants, 4 U.S. soldiers, and 10 Afghan policemen were killed in the fresh weekend violence in war-weary Afghanistan.

    In the deadliest conflict starting from late Saturday, 70 Taliban insurgents were killed in Panjwai district of the southern Kandahar province, district chief Niaz Mohammad Sarhadi told Xinhua on Sunday.

    The clash, which lasted till early hours of Sunday, also killed four policemen and one Afghan soldier, said a local police officer who refused to be named.

    Three policemen and three Afghan soldiers were injured in the conflict, he added.

    In a latest statement, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said Afghan forces and ISAF had inflicted heavy casualties against Taliban fighters in Panjwayi district.

    "Afghan officials have reported that between 60 and 72 Taliban fighters were killed" in Saturday's conflict, it said, adding ISAF ground forces called upon air and artillery assets.

    It also said there were no ISAF casualties in the engagements.

    Panjwai, about 40 km west of Kandahar city, capital of Kandahar province, has been a hotbed of Taliban militants, who have frequently clashed with government and foreign troops in the past months.

    Meanwhile, Afghan officials said Sunday that six border policemen and four Taliban insurgents were killed in the western Nimroz province on Saturday, according to reports.

    Four U.S. soldiers were also killed in the volatile country on Saturday, which was Afghanistan's 87th Independence Day.

    Three coalition troops were killed in a clash in Pech district of the eastern Kunar province in the morning, Chris Miller, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition forces told Xinhua.

    A coalition combat patrol struck a roadside bomb and engaged a group of Taliban extremists in the district, coalition forces said in a statement, which added three coalition troops were injured.

    Later reports confirmed the killed and wounded soldiers are all Americans.

    One U.S. soldier of ISAF and one Afghan soldier lost their lives during a firefight in the southern Uruzgan province, ISAF said in a statement.

    The conflict occurred when a joint patrol of Afghan and U.S. troops encountered a large insurgent force.

    Three U.S. soldiers were wounded in the engagement and were evacuated to an ISAF medical facility for treatment.

    Both Kunar and Uruzgan have been a stronghold of Taliban and other anti-government militants, who attack foreign troops frequently.

    ISAF, which has about 21,000 troops, took command in southern Afghanistan from coalition forces on July 31, while coalition troops are mainly deployed in eastern Afghanistan to hunt down militants there.

    Afghanistan is suffering from a rise of Taliban-linked violence this year, during which over 1,800 people, mostly Taliban insurgents, have been killed.

    Meanwhile, more than 80 foreign troops, most of whom are Americans, have lost their lives in this central Asian country in the past eight months. Enditem