Nearly 60 militants killed in southern Afghanistan

KABUL (Reuters) - U.S.-led coalition and Afghan security forces killed nearly 60 militants during separate clashes in southern Afghanistan, the U.S. military and a police official said Tuesday.

Violence has surged in the war-torn country with some 3,800 people, a third of them civilians, killed as a result of the conflict by the end of July this year, according to the United Nations.

U.S.-led coalition and Afghan security forces killed 43 militants during heavy fighting in Qalat district of southern Zabul province Sunday, the U.S. military said in a statement Tuesday.

"ANSF (Afghan National Security Forces) and coalition forces on a patrol received heavy weapons, machine gun and sniper fire from militants in multiple locations," the U.S. military said in a statement.

The combined forces responded with small arms fire, rocket propelled grenades and close air support, killing the militants, it said.

No Afghan or U.S.-led troops were killed or wounded during incident, it said.

In a separate incident, Afghan and international troops killed 16 Taliban insurgents and wounded six more during a gun battle in Nad Ali district of southern Helmand province on Monday, provincial police chief Asadullah Sherzad told Reuters.

(Writing by Jonathon Burch; Editing by Bill Tarrant)