NATO and Afghan forces killed 18 Taliban guerrillas in a raid on a village in southern Afghanistan, where violence has escalated after NATO troops took over from US forces.

In another province in the Taliban?s southern heartland, 15 police surrendered as the rebels were about to attack their post, the Taliban said yesterday.

The NATO-Afghan raid on the rebels on Tuesday came after villagers told government forces guerrillas had gathered in the village of Garmser in Helmand province, the provincial police chief said.

?We carried out the operation in which 18 Taliban got killed and we recovered a huge amount of ammunitions,? Nabi Mullahkhail, told Reuters. He did not give further details but said there were no casualties among the NATO and Afghan troops. Taliban officials could not be contacted for immediate comment.

The clash came hours after three British soldiers were killed in an ambush on their patrol in Helmand, a day after NATO took over from the US to allow Washington to pull about 3,000 soldiers out of the country.