Coalition planes meanwhile bombed an "enemy stronghold" in the south while an Afghan working for a Bangladeshi aid group was shot dead in the north and suspected Taliban killed an influential tribal chief in a mosque in the east.

Dozens of troops were dropped from coalition aircraft into a remote, mountainous district of Uruzgan province late Friday and recaptured the area, which had been overrun by Taliban nearly three days earlier, the defence ministry said in a statement. "At least 15 Taliban dead bodies were found. The overall Taliban casualties are believed to be 20," the statement said.

The forces met "limited resistance" as the rebels fled Chora district about 40km northwest of provincial capital Tarin Khowt, the US-led coalition said in a statement.

"Coalition air power engaged and killed several insurgents armed with recoilless rifles and rocket-propelled-grenade launchers," the statement said.

Taliban fighters overran the district late Tuesday, setting fire to the small district headquarters and some government vehicles, officials said.

The Taliban movement, trying to regain control of the government that it lost in a US-led operation in 2001, often claims to hold districts in the south, where they are most active.

This was the first time however that government officials had admitted the rebels had control of an area for more than a few hours.

The government said another 12 suspected Taliban were killed after police resisted an attack on a checkpost in southern Kandahar province late Friday.

Four policemen were wounded, said provincial government spokesman Daud Ahmadi of the battle north of Kandahar city.

A suicide bomb blast in the same area late Friday killed three civilian men. It was apparently aimed at a passing Canadian and Afghan army convoy that was unscathed.

In neighbouring Helmand province, police rounded up 18 suspects after another police checkpost was raided, officials said Saturday.

Kandahar and Helmand are among the provinces that have seen the worst of an insurgency launched by the Taliban movement removed from power for not surrendering al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.

The coalition on Friday dropped three precision guided bombs on "enemy extremists" loading munitions into a truck from a cave in Helmand's Musa Qala district, a coalition statement said.

It was too early to tell how many people had been killed, it said.

Musa Qala is a known Taliban stronghold and saw fierce fighting last month, when there was a surge of violence over about two weeks that left around 400 people dead, most of them rebels and including more than 30 civilians.

Taliban militants were Saturday the main suspects in the murder of a tribal chief who had been helping to persuade members of Taliban regime to work with the new government, police said.

Haji Mursalen was shot dead in Kunar province while praying in a mosque Friday, police said.

And in northern Baghlan province, gunmen burst into the home of an Afghan employee with the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (Brac) development group and shot him dead, police said.