KANDAHAR (Agencies) - An Afghan government official said Wednesday that international warplanes had bombed a gathering of Taliban and other militants on the southern border with Pakistan and killed up to 70. Nato's International Security Assistance Force confirmed the strike but said it was late Sunday, not Monday, and killed a "small group of Taliban commanders." Intelligence reports had indicated that militants, including Arabs and Pakistanis, had gathered in Barham Chah in southern Helmand province, provincial government spokesman Daud Ahmadi told AFP. The men were being watched by international troops who then sent in aircraft, he said. "The foreign forces bombed the Taliban gathering in Barham Chah and killed up to 70 Taliban who were mostly foreign fighters," Daud said. "Most of these Taliban (killed) are foreign fighters who entered Afghanistan to destabilise the country," he said. The area, on the border with Pakistan's Balochistan province, is extremely remote and it was impossible to verify the account. "After positively identifying these insurgents, Isaf attacked them with precision airstrikes, killing the insurgents and destroying two of their vehicles," the force said in a statement. It usually does not release casualty figures for its operations. The vast province of Helmand is the main producer of illegal opium in Afghanistan, according to the United States. Daud described the town as a place of "smuggling, drugs business and other illegal activities" and acknowledged that the government had no control of the area. Provincial authorities said earlier on Wednesday that another 22 Taliban insurgents and six Afghan policemen were killed in Tuesday night clashes in the south. In another incident, gunmen killed six Afghan policemen at their checkpost in the same district, Daud said.