KABUL, July 6, 2008 (AFP) - US-led forces unleashed air strikes on a large group of militants operating in a mountainous area of Afghanistan near the Pakistan border Sunday and killed "several" of them, the force said.

The precision strikes in the eastern province of Nangarhar were conducted after "intelligence revealed a large group of militants operating in Deh Bala district," the force said in a statement.

"Several militants were killed today (Sunday) when coalition forces conducted precision air strikes in Nangarhar province," a statement from the coalition said.

"Coalition forces identified the militants in a mountainous region and used precision air strikes to kill them," it said.

The statement did not give details and Afghan authorities did not immediately have information about the incident.

Deh Bala is in the Safed Koh (White Mountain) range on the border with Afghanistan and Pakistan that includes the Tora Bora area, where Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden escaped a major US and Afghan offensive in 2002.