19 Taliban Killed in Afghan Attack

British and Afghan troops killed 19 Taliban guerrillas Sunday, a day after a suicide attack killed two Canadian soldiers in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

Dozens of British soldiers with the NATO mission, supported by Afghan troops, carried out a pre-dawn attack near the capital city of Afghanistan’s Helmand province in the southwest part of the country, the BBC reported.

Besides the 19 Taliban guerrillas, the attack killed an unspecified number of civilians, the BBC said.

Helmand produces 20 percent of the world’s opium.

The raid came a day after suicide attack by Taliban guerrillas killed two Canadian soldiers in the southern city of Kandahar, on the Helmund River.

A spokesman for the U.S.-led military coalition said a suicide car bomber crashed into a coalition convoy in the city around sunset.

Eight other Canadian soldiers were wounded in the attack as the convoy made its way back to Kandahar Airfield, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported.

A second suicide bomber attacked the same convoy about an hour later, killing six Afghan civilians and injuring 30 in the heavily populated area. No Canadians were wounded, CBC Radio said.