KABUL, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Nineteen insurgents were killed in latest conflicts in Afghanistan, local officials told Xinhua on Wednesday.

    "Sixteen rebels including a Taliban commander were killed by Afghan police and troops in Garmser district of the southern Helmand province on Tuesday," Ghulam Rasoul Aka, the district's police chief said.

    Pakistani nationals were also among the killed, but failed to give their names or other evidence, he said, adding that one policeman was injured.

    Meantime, Tafseer Khan, police chief of the central Ghazni province, said the U.S.-led coalition and Afghan forces killed three militants in the province's Qarabagh district on Tuesday afternoon.

    Three other rebels were injured in the clash, which happened inthe district's Jandad village, he added.

    However, Qari Yusuf Ahmadi, a purported Taliban spokesman, rejected the sayings, claiming the Taliban has inflicted heavy casualties on government and coalition forces.

    He claimed 25 Afghan and foreign soldiers were killed in Qarabagh district.

    More than 2,300 people, mostly Taliban militants, have been killed in Taliban-linked insurgency this year in Afghanistan. Enditem