Kabul, Afghanistan ? U.S.-led soldiers and Afghan forces killed 25 Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan’s volatile south, and NATO-led Canadian troops narrowly escaped a suicide bombing Friday near the site of a battle that killed four fellow soldiers a day earlier.

Acting on a tip from local tribal elders, police in southern Helmand province raided an orchard where Taliban fighters were camping and called in airstrikes, said provincial police chief Ghulam Nabi Malakhai. The U.S.-led coalition said 25 Taliban were killed in the raid Thursday night.

NATO took charge of security in the south this week from the coalition amid a barrage of violence that has left seven of its soldiers dead. However, the coalition, which is not under NATO command, has retained responsibility for counterterrorism operations there.

In southern Kandahar province, a suicide attacker blew up his car Friday in Maywand district, narrowly missing a nearby NATO patrol that drove away undamaged, officials said.