An Afghan army officer says government troops have killed at least 15 suspected Taleban fighters who crossed the border from neighboring Pakistan.

The Afghan commander says his soldiers attacked the insurgents late Tuesday near the border town of Spin Boldak, in Kandahar province.

He said among the dead was Taleban commander Mullah Shien, who is believed to have led several attacks.

The Afghan officer said at least four insurgents ran back across the border during the fighting.

Afghanistan is urging Pakistan to do more to fight Taleban militants. The Kabul government's top diplomat, Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, speaking in Washington earlier this week, said Taleban training camps in Pakistan's tribal areas are a source of "instability and terror," posing a threat to the entire region.

The Afghan foreign minister blames Taleban leaders for cross-border attacks carried out by pro-Taleban militants based in Pakistan.

With the warmer summer months approaching, insurgents from Afghanistan's ousted Taleban regime have vowed to increase their attacks on foreign forces and the western-backed government in Kabul.

American-led forces overthrew the hard-line Islamist Taleban regime in Afghanistan more than four years ago, after the terrorist attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001. Taleban-controlled Afghanistan had been the base of operations for Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida terror network.

Insurgents' continuing attacks against foreign forces in Afghanistan and the Kabul government have killed more than 1500 people during the past year - the highest death toll since 2001.