Afghanistan ? U.S.-led coalition soldiers and Afghan forces killed about 50 militants in two days of major fighting near a Taliban-controlled town in southern Afghanistan’s poppy-growing belt, officials Saturday.

Taliban forces fired rocket-propelled grenades and small arms at a combined coalition-Afghan patrol near the town of Musa Qala in Helmand province, sparking a battle that lasted several hours and involved the use of military aircraft, the coalition said in a statement. Nearly three dozen militants were killed.

The battle was the second in two days near Musa Qala. The coalition said it killed more than a dozen insurgents Friday after the militants ambushed a patrol. Attack aircraft helped repel that initial attack, though the fighters tried to reinforce their numbers throughout the engagement, which lasted several hours, the coalition said.