KABUL, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- At least 29 Taliban militants including a known commander have been killed in clashes in the past two days in Afghanistan, during which two French soldiers also lost their lives, officials and coalition forces said on Saturday.

    The U.S.-led coalition forces killed 16 Taliban militants including a known commander in the central Khod valley of the southern Uruzgan province, the coalition force said in a statement.

    The commander and his associates were involved in conducting attacks against Afghan, ISAF and coalition troops, it added. However, the statement did not announce his name and identity.

    There were no coalition casualties in the operation, it said.

    Also on Friday, air forces of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) attacked a Taliban convoy in the southern Helmand province, killing a number of militants and destroying 10 vehicles, provincial police chief Mohammad Nabi Mullahkhil said on Saturday.

    "A group of Taliban fighters with 10 vehicles were going to raid Nawzad district when ISAF aircraft attacked them," Mullahkhil told Xinhua.

    He did not give the exact number of Taliban casualties, while local reports said seven militants were killed.

    However, an ISAF spokesman said the air raid was conducted in Musa Qala district of the province and seven vehicles were destroyed.

    Meanwhile, at least 400 Taliban militants launched attacks on two district centers in southern Afghanistan on Friday night, officials told Xinhua on Saturday.

    "Some 400 Taliban rebels raided the center of Arghandab district in Zabul province," district chief Ali Muradi said.

    The police repulsed the attack after a fierce conflict, during which six rebels were killed and 12 others wounded, he added.

    A large number of Taliban militants stormed the center of Moqordistrict in Ghazni province, spokesman of the provincial government Abdul Ali Fakori said.

    He did not give the exact number of the attackers.

    "One low-ranking local official was killed in the assault and two policemen were wounded, while three vehicles were set on fire," Fakori said.

    The southern Afghanistan has been a stronghold of Taliban insurgents, who have attacked government and foreign targets frequently.

    Two coalition troops were killed and another two wounded in a roadside bomb explosion and an ambush on Saturday in the eastern Laghman province, coalition forces said in a statement.

    The casualties occurred when some coalition soldiers patrolled about 38 km southeast of Mehtarlam, the provincial capital.

    The French Defense Ministry said the soldiers under attack werefrom France.

    On Saturday, a roadside bomb also targeted some ISAF troops in the northern Baghlan province, but caused no casualties, an ISAF spokesman said.

    "There was an explosion at around 6:30 a.m. local time, but there were no fatalities or injuries," Luke Knittig told Xinhua.

    About 20,000 coalition troops are deployed in eastern Afghanistan to hunt down insurgents there, while around 21,000 ISAF soldiers take charge of security in other parts of the volatile country.

    Afghanistan is suffering from a rise of Taliban-linked violence this year, during which more than 1,900 people, mostly Taliban militants, have been killed so far.

    Among the fatalities are over 90 foreign troops. Enditem