(Updates with police claim of higher toll) KABUL, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Afghan and U.S.-led coalition forces destroyed an insurgent headquarters near the southern city of Kandahar overnight, killing an estimated 25 guerrillas, the U.S. military said on Sunday. Troops backed by air support attacked two compounds in Ashoqeh Village, 17 km (10 miles) southwest of Kandahar, the military said. It was the latest in a series of clashes in the Islamist Taliban-dominated south in recent weeks in which the U.S. military said coalition forces have killed hundreds of insurgents. "Intelligence suggested that the compounds, comprised of seven buildings, contained multiple insurgent leaders responsible for the deaths of Afghans and Coalition forces during IED attacks and ambushes," the Combined Joint Task Force said in a statement. "A total of 25 insurgents were estimated killed during the course of the evening's operations," it said, adding that a suicide bomber blew himself up during the initial engagement. Kandahar's police chief Sayed Agha Saqib said more than 100 Taliban were killed in the clash, but analysts say death tolls are often exaggerated for propaganda reasons. A spokesman for the Taliban, Qari Mohammad Yousuf, confirmed the clash but said only five fighters were killed. He also said the insurgents destroyed a vehicle in a convoy of the U.S.-led troops in an ambush, though he had no other details. There was no independent confirmation of any sides' accounts. Saturday's clash comes on the heels of a series of similar incidents in recent weeks, and just days after a Taliban suicide bomber blew up a car packed with explosives near the Afghan capital's airport, killing two Afghan soldiers and wounding a dozen people. Copying Iraqi insurgents' tactics, the Taliban largely rely on suicide attacks and roadside bombs as part of their campaign against the Afghan government and some 50,000 foreign troops led by NATO and the U.S. military. During the past 19 months, more than 7,000 people, including many civilians, have been killed.
