KABUL, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) -- Thirteen Taliban militants and seven local civilians were killed during a fighting on Wednesday evening involving the radical outfit, Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) and international troops in northern Afghan province of Badghis, said a police official on Thursday.

    Abdul Ghani Sabiri, the deputy police chief of Badghis, told Xinhua that Taliban insurgents Wednesday evening ambushed ANSF in Ghormach district when the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and the U.S.-led Coalition came for reinforcement.

    "Air strike has been used against the rebels, killing 13 of them," Sabiri said, "seven civilians were also reportedly killed in the clash."

    Meanwhile, a Coalition statement issued here on Thursday confirmed there might be civilian casualties during the clash.

    Moreover, two Norwegian officers, according to media reports, were wounded in the clash who were treated at the Norwegian military hospital in Meymaneh district.

    The incident took place when a force of around 20 Norwegian troops were on their way from Meymaneh to assist Afghan troops who had come under attack in the Ghowrmach-district, reports said.

    "The coalition, ISAF and Afghan authorities are investigating reports of non-combatant casualties in the Ghormach district last night," said Col. Greg Julian, Public Affairs Officer of U.S. Forces in Afghanistan.

    "If we find that innocent people were killed in this incident, we apologize and express our sincere condolences to the families and the people of Afghanistan," Julian said.

    This fresh incident just came two days after the tragedy in Kandahar province of south Afghanistan that 40 civilians were killed and over 28 others were injured in a Coalition air strike on Nov. 3.

    Hundreds of Afghan civilians have been killed in the U.S.-led war on terror in Afghanistan over the past nearly seven years and the most bloody one was killing 91 non-combatants including women and children in Shind and district of western Herat province in air strikes last August.

    Spiraling conflicts and Taliban-linked insurgency have claimed around 5,000 people, including over 1500 civilians, so far this year in strife-torn Afghanistan while Taliban insurgents have vowed to intensify assaults against interests of Afghan government and international troops before the coming winter.