KABUL, Afghanistan, Dec 14, SPA -- Eight suspected Taliban militants were killed and a policeman wounded in a joint operation by the Afghan police and army, a provincial governor said Thursday. The operation took place Tuesday in western Farahprovince, said Gov. Abdul Samad Stanikzai. Separately in the south, NATO troops launched a«precision air strike against a known Taliban commandpost» in an isolated area of the Panjwayi district ofKandahar province late Wednesday, said a statement from the International Security Assistance Force. It said the target was completely destroyed. Capt. Andre Salloum, a NATO spokesman in Kandahar, said there were some Taliban casualties, but he could not say how many. Local officials said they did not know yet the number of casualties from the air strike. Nearly 4,000 deaths have been reported ininsurgency-related violence this year in Afghanistan _mostly militants, but also including some 300 civilians, the Associated Press reported.--SPA www.spa.gov.sa/411158