The New Nation - Internet Edition

AP, Kabul

Afghan and coalition forces say they have killed six militants during a patrol in southern Afghanistan's most violent region.

The U.S. coalition says Saturday that the combined forces were on a patrol in Helmand province Thursday when they spotted militants pulling out weapons from a hiding spot. The combined forces killed the militants and destroyed the weapons.

Violence has spiked across Afghanistan the last two years. More than 6,000 people have died in insurgency-related violence in 2008, according to an Associated Press count of figures based on Afghan and Western officials.