Kabul, Afghanistan ? The U.S.-led coalition and Afghan forces have killed a suspected Taliban commander and three of his fighters in the country’s south, while six other rebels died in a clash with Afghan police, officials said Monday.

Payenda Mohammed, who was thought to have led about 150 rebels, was killed in a fierce battle in Kandahar province on Wednesday, said U.S. military spokesman Col. James Yonts. He was believed responsible for numerous rocket attacks, ambushes and other guerrilla-style assaults.

At least three other militants were killed and 15 wounded in the fighting, in which A-10 warplanes and attack helicopters bombed caves along a ridge where the militants had sought shelter and had stashed weapons, Yonts said Monday.

Afghan and coalition forces have stepped up attacks in recent months in an attempt to prevent the Taliban from subverting landmark elections on Sept. 18. Hundreds of suspected rebels have been killed.

Yonts said American forces are doing all they can in to locate Osama bin Laden but he cannot say when the al-Qaida leader will be captured.

“When will he be captured? … I can’t give you a date, but I can tell you this: Everyone remembers 9/11,” Col. James Yonts told reporters in Kabul.

Bin Laden has long been suspected to be hiding in remote mountains between Afghanistan and Pakistan, but no hard evidence has emerged on his exact whereabouts.