Kabul: A Taliban key commander Mawlawi Atiqullah was among 12 killed after aircrafts pounded terrorists' positions in Garmsir district of the southern Helmand province on early Thursday.

The strike was conducted when the terrorists were organising attacks on government interests, Xinhua quoted a statement of provincial government as saying.

Poppy-growing Helmand province has been the scene of fighting between Taliban and government forces over the past couple of years.

The terrorists have been pushing to overrun the provincial capital Lashkar Gah, a key city in southern region of Afghanistan.-Agency