(Adds comments of governor, killing of another aid worker)

By Sayed Salahuddin

KABUL, April 30 (Reuters) - U.S.-led coalition troops killed more than 130 Taliban fighters in Afghanistan over the past several days, the coalition said on Monday, but thousands of Afghans staged a protest saying the victims were civilians.

The Taliban were killed in two separate battles in the western province of Herat, the U.S. military said in a statement, adding that air support and Afghan forces were also involved.

The deaths triggered an angry protest -- the second in the country in two days -- over what local villagers say was the killing of civilians.

Herat, bordering Iran, had been relatively safe until recently compared with the south and east, where the Taliban are most active.

Both battles were in the Zerkoh valley, south of Shindand district, where Western troops have a large base, and running into Farah province further south.

A total of 87 Taliban fighters were killed during a 14-hour battle with U.S.-led troops and Afghan forces on Sunday.

Another 49 Taliban, including two of their leaders, were killed two days earlier after a group of Taliban fired at a joint coalition and Afghan patrol in another part of the valley.

RISING VIOLENCE

The statement did not identify the Taliban leaders.

It said one U.S. soldier was killed, but did not say if there were any casualties among the Afghan forces. There were no reported injuries among civilians, the statement said.

The Taliban could not be contacted immediately for comment and there was no independent verification of the reported Taliban losses, the heaviest yet this year, following last year's bloodiest fighting since the Taliban's ouster from power in 2001.

Thousands protested in Shindand, storming the district government headquarters and a police compound, saying those killed were civilians, not Taliban.

Police reinforcements were sent in to control the protestors and to block them from marching on the base.

At least 20 civilians were wounded during police firing, several residents told a Reuters reporter in the region by phone.

Appearing at a press conference with the new U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, William B. Wood, Herat governor Sayed Hussein Anwari rejected coalition's report that said Afghan forces were also involved in the battles.

Anwari asked for better coordination between Western and Afghan troops and confirmed that some civilians were wounded by police firing during the protests.

An official in Shindand said the protests had ended and government forces were in control of town.

The latest protest comes a day after an angry demonstration in eastern Nangahar province over the killing of civilians by coalition and Afghan forces there.

Violence has surged in recent weeks after the traditional winter lull and this is regarded as the crunch year for all sides. Almost 4,000 people died last year. Hundreds, including about 30 foreign troops, have been killed already this year.

Separately, U.S.-led and Afghan forces have killed more than 150 Taliban and foreign fighters over the past three weeks in Sangin district of southern Helmand province, the coalition said in another statement.

Helmand is a Taliban stronghold and the key drug producing region of the world's leading producer of heroin. The Taliban could not be reached for comment on the Helmand losses.

The Taliban have stepped up their attacks in recent weeks, but mostly rely on roadside bomb attacks, backed by suicide bombers, largely in the south and east.

But the north, like Herat regarded as safer than the south and east, haS also seen a rise in violence in recent weeks.

Meanwhile, NATO and Afghan forces continued their advances on Monday in Sangin as part of the Operation Achilles launched last month, the alliance said in a statement.

Several Taliban positions were destroyed, it said.

On Sunday night, two Afghan employees, one of a Western aid group, another from a local reconstruction firm were gunned down in two separate attacks in the north by Taliban fighters, police said.

A suspected Taliban suicide bomber killed at least one Afghan guard of a U.S. security firm and wounded three more guards in the southern province of Kandahar on Monday. (Additional reporting by Sher Mohammad Reza and Tahir Atmar)

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