KABUL, July 17 (Xinhua) -- Afghan troops supported by the U.S.-led Coalition forces Thursday killed two Taliban leaders and a "significant" number of other insurgents in western Afghanistan, the NATO-led military said.

    Two Taliban leaders, Haji Dawlat Khan and Haji Nasrullah Khan, were confirmed killed, in an operation conducted in Shindand district of west province Herat, the NATO-led force said in a statement.

    The statement, which came as reports said dozens of civilians were killed in the raid, said there was no evidence of any civilian casualties or accidental damage in the operation against high priority Taliban targets.

    "During the operation a number of men were discovered hand-cuffed and imprisoned in appalling conditions in one of the insurgent compounds," it added. "They are now receiving medical care."

    The Coalition forces Thursday said eight civilians were killed and two more were wounded in its air strikes in neighboring Farah province on Wednesday.

    Close air support was called in to target identified militant positions after a Coalition convoy on a routine patrol in Bakwa district came under sustained firing from houses adjacent to the road, it said in a statement.

    "Coalition forces never intentionally target non-combatants, and deeply regret any occurrence such as this where civilians are killed and injured as a result of insurgent activity and actions," it said.

    A total of 70,000 international troops under the flags of the NATO-led ISAF and the U.S.-led Coalition forces separately are deployed in Afghanistan for stabilizing security.

    Some 698 civilians were killed in Afghanistan in the first half of year 2008, 255 of them by Afghan and foreign troops, according to UN figures.

    The past months saw a surge of Taliban-led militancy and deadly clashes between militants and Afghan and local-based international troops.