Taliban hit in rocket strike

A US rocket artillery strike on a gathering of Taliban leaders in southern Afghanistan killed at least 50 of them, a US military official says.

Lieutenant Colonel Martin O’Donnell said a weapon system known as the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, which fires GPSguided rockets, destroyed a command-and-control post where high-level Taliban leaders met. He said at least 50 leaders were killed.

Additionally, unspecified numbers of Taliban officials were killed in US air strikes over a recent 10-day period.