By NOOR KHAN, Associated Press Writer
Afghan and foreign troops battled Taliban fighters and called in airstrikes in southern Afghanistan, leaving 30 militants dead, an Afghan police chief said Thursday.

Four other militants were killed in a separate clash in the east.

The joint forces attacked militants hiding inside two compounds on Wednesday in the Zhari district of southern Kandahar province, said provincial police chief Sayed Agha Saqib.

Troops detained 12 other militants, including group commanders fighting Afghan and foreign forces in the area, Saqib said. Five of the men detained were wounded during the clash.

In eastern Khost province, meanwhile, gunmen on motorbikes shot to death a school principal on Wednesday, said Wazir Pacha, spokesman for the provincial police.

Schools and teachers are frequently targeted by militants for having un-Islamic curricula or for educating girls.

This has been the deadliest year in Afghanistan since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001, with more than 6,100 people killed — including over 800 civilians — in militant attacks and military operations, according to an AP tally of figures from Afghan and western officials.

The latest violence came two days after NATO airstrikes targeting Taliban fighters mistakenly killed 14 members of an Afghan road construction crew in mountainous Nuristan province, Afghan officials said. NATO and Afghan authorities are investigating.

Afghan officials said the bombs Monday night hit two tents housing Afghan engineers and laborers contracted by the U.S. military to build a road. They blamed faulty intelligence for the mistake.

The alliance has called into question that version of the events — but has stopped short of denying it.

NATO's International Security Assistance Force said its warplanes dropped two bombs targeting Taliban fighters in Nuristan on Monday night, and there was a "strong indication" that a Taliban leader in Nuristan province, Abdullah Jan, was killed in the operation.

"We do not believe at this stage, with the details that we have, that there were a large number of civilian casualties as has been reported, but as I say, this is under investigation," said Maj. Gen. Garry Robison, ISAF's deputy commander for stability.

The bombing is the first apparent major blunder by foreign troops in months. It follows sharp criticism earlier this year of mass civilian casualties caused by U.S. and NATO operations. The civilian tolls have undermined foreign troops' reputation among Afghans and hurt the government of Western-backed President Hamid Karzai.

In other violence Wednesday:

• In Ghazni province, Taliban insurgents ambushed police in Khogyani district, and the ensuing clash killed one policeman and four suspected militants, said deputy provincial police chief Mohammad Zaman.

• Militants in Paktia province attacked trucks carrying supplies for foreign troops, killing one driver, said Din Mohammad Darwesh, spokesman for the provincial governor.

• In neighboring Paktika province, a roadside bomb hit Afghan troops, leaving one soldier dead and three wounded, Darwesh said.

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