8 suspected Taliban killed in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghan soldiers conducting a sweep in a mountain area south of the capital exchanged fire with suspected Taliban rebels, killing eight and capturing 16 in some of the heaviest fighting in months, officials said Tuesday.Mohammed Zahir Azimi, a spokesman for the Afghan defense ministry, said U.S. warplanes joined in the battle Monday in the mountains of southern Zabul province. A spokesman in the Zabul governor's office, Ali Khail, said Chechens and Arabs were among those killed and captured.