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Kabul: US troops killed 10 Taliban militants during operations in southern and central Afghanistan, while five more witnesses testified at a hearing over allegations that two American soldiers mistreated a detainee, the US military said on Wednesday.
Seven militants were killed during a clash with a joint US-Afghan patrol in the Nad Ali district of the southern Helmand province on Tuesday, the military said in a statement.
"The combined forces were conducting a combat reconnaissance patrol when they were engaged by militants from multiple fighting positions using small-arms, indirect and rocket fire," the statement said.
In another clash on Tuesday, three militants were killed during a firefight with US troops in the Andar district of Ghazni province, another military statement said.
The troops were targeting a militant leader coordinating Taliban activities in the province. The statement did not name the militant or say whether he was one of the three persons killed.
At a US base in eastern Afghanistan, meanwhile, a hearing continued into allegations that two US soldiers mistreated a detainee in August, the military said.
Captain Roger T. Hill and 1st Sergeant Tommy L. Scott, both of 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, based at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, are facing an Article 32 hearing, similar to a civilian grand jury investigation, to determine whether they should be brought to trial, a US forces statement said.
Twenty-three witnesses, including five on Tuesday, have testified during two days of hearings at Camp Salerno in Afghanistan's eastern Khost province, the statement said. The hearing follows a report from within the unit about potential detainee abuse, it said.
Hill and Scott have been formally charged with detainee mistreatment and dereliction of the duty to report detainee mistreatment.
The military did not provide details about the alleged abuse or its possible victim.
Captain Christian Patterson, a US military spokesman, said the Article 32 hearing could result in a court martial, the charges being dropped or some other disciplinary action.
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