British troops claim to have wiped out up to 100 Taleban fighters and destroyed an enemy "regional headquarters" in Afghanistan in the Army's biggest single raid since it started policing the volatile Helmand province.

The Taleban compound, in the area of Kostay south of the town of Garmsir, was attacked during an operation lasting nearly four hours by around 100 British troops backed up by air support, the Army said in a statement today.

In what could be a significant advance for the Helmand operation, UK commanders said both buildings in the compound, which intelligence said housed between 60 and 100 Taleban fighters, were completely destroyed while no British casualties were reported.

NATO also claimed to have killed 150 Taleban fighters in a seperate battle in eastern Afghanistan, after they were spotted crossing from Pakistan.

In the British raid, which began at 3.30am today local time, troops from the Brigade Reconnaissance Force (BRF), part of 3 Commando Brigade, supported by the Light Dragoons, crossed the Helmand river and took up positions around the Taleban compound.

Men on the ground were supported by jets and Apache attack helicopters with twin airstikes launched against the buildings.

Both attacks were direct hits, the UK forces said, with first reports suggesting there was no collateral damage to other buildings or civilians. The troops left the scene at around 7am.

Major Mike Geldard, who co-ordinated the operation from UK Task Force headquarters in Lashkar Gah, said it was not possible to say how many Taleban may have been killed but he said it was believed to be a significant number.

He said: "It was a very successful operation. This was probably the biggest action in Helmand we have conducted to date in terms of a pre-planned operation.

"We have been building up information about this target up for about two weeks. Through intelligence we were able to pinpoint these two locations that we considered to be a Taleban regional headquarters for the south of the province."

Meanwhile, in a seperate operation, a NATO statement claimed as many as 150 Taleban militants had been killed in a battle in eastern Afghanistan.

The statement said that two groups of Taleban were monitored and tracked as they crossed the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, and then attacked.

The Afghan defence ministry earlier estimated 80 fatalities, while Dr Muhammad Hanif, a Taleban spokesman, was quoted by agencies as saying that the figure of 150 Taleban fighters killed was "a complete lie". There was no independent confirmation of numbers.

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