KANDAHAR: Taliban militants launched a surprise attack on a key southern Afghan town, sparking a battle that killed about 60 insurgents, an Afghan official said Sunday. A second clash in the same region killed another 40 militants.

Taliban fighters used rockets and other heavy weapons to attack Afghan forces on the outskirts of Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province, said Daud Ahmadi, the spokesman for the provincial governor.

Militants attacked the city from three sides starting just after midnight and were pushed back only after a battle that involved airstrikes, Ahmadi said. Rockets landed in different parts of the city but there were no civilian casualties, he said.

NATO said its aircraft bombed insurgents after they observed them gathering for a major attack, killing ``multiple enemy forces,'' the military alliance said in a statement.

Gen. David McKiernan, head of the NATO-led force in Afghanistan, told reporters in Kabul that hundreds of insurgents had gathered for the attack.

"If the insurgents planned a spectacular attack prior to the winter, this was a spectacular failure,'' said Brig. Gen. Richard Blanchette, the spokesman for the NATO-led force.

Authorities recovered the bodies of 41 Taliban fighters on the city's outskirts, from where the attack was launched, he said. He estimated the bodies of another 20 fighters were taken from the battle site by the militants, citing intelligence reports.