Washington (CNN) The US military said Wednesday that US troops killed "dozens" of Taliban leaders when a US artillery barrage struck a meeting of insurgent commanders on May 24.

US military officials said the strike took place after US military intelligence assets were able to monitor Taliban commanders following their major attack on the Afghan city of Farah , a well-coordinated assault in which the Taliban managed to overrun the police security cordon surrounding the provincial capital before they were repelled by US and Afghan troops in an intense battle.

The commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, Gen. John Nicholson, said the retreating Taliban leaders were observed attending a meeting of other leaders in Musa Qala in Helmand Province, an area under the Taliban's control.

Nicholson said the highest ranking insurgent killed in the strike was the deputy shadow governor of Helmand.

"It was a group of commanders, meeting in part to discuss the operation in Farah that many of them had just participated in," Nicholson told reporters at the Pentagon Wednesday via a teleconference from Kabul.

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