Gen. John Nicholson said U.S. forces killed dozens of Taliban leaders in Afghanistan this month in rocket attacks and airstrikes. Photo courtesy USAF Sgt. Jette Carr/Department of Defense

May 31 (UPI) -- U.S. forces killed more than 50 Taliban leaders in southern Afghanistan last week, a top commander said.

Gen. John Nicholson said in a news conference U.S. Marines used rocket artillery to attack the militant leaders after tracking them to a meeting in Helmand province May 24.


"It was a group of commanders, meeting in part to discuss the operation in Farah that many of them had just participated in," Nicholson said.

Nicholson said Marines "struck them with HIMARS rockets" and killed "dozens of the enemy leaders" who were were involved in drug trafficking.

"That's their main source of finance. And, in this case, they attempted to again distract us from Helmand by moving over to Farah to bring some pressure there," the U.S. commander said.

Several Taliban governors, intelligence commanders and others in leadership were among the dead.

Earlier this month, 20 Taliban leaders died in U.S. airstrikes on Kandahar, raising the toll to about 70.

Officials said more than 500 airstrikes were conducted in Afghanistan last month, many targeting Taliban drug labs.