Kabul, Sep 13 (DPA) Up to 50 Taliban insurgents were killed in a clash in western Afghanistan after the rebels killed 10 soldiers in the region, officials said Sunday.

Militants ambushed a convoy of the UN World Food Programme in Bala Bulok district of western Farah province Saturday, provincial governor Ruh-ul-Amin said.

The ambush with roadside bombs and assault weapons killed three US soldiers and seven Afghan army soldiers accompanying the convoy.

The coalition forces retaliated with air strikes, killing up to 50 insurgents, the governor said.

Regional army spokesman Abdul Basir Ghori also said around 50 insurgents were killed in the four-hour combat. 'The area is under the Taliban control, so we cannot say if there were Taliban commanders among those killed.'

Ghori said seven Afghan army soldiers were killed and 12 others were wounded in the attack.

Two teenage girls were killed and a woman and another girl were wounded when a rocket fired by Taliban militants landed at a home in Spin Masjid area of Bala Bulok district, Abdul Raouf Ahmadi, spokesman for police forces in the western region, said.