KABUL, April 7 (Reuters) - Afghan and U.S.-led forces have inflicted heavy casualties on insurgents in a battle in the eastern province of Nuristan, the Afghan Defence Ministry said on Monday.

The fighting erupted during an operation to clear insurgents from villages in the remote province near the Pakistani border and ended when aircraft bombed positions where large numbers of insurgents were fighting, the U.S. military said.

The U.S. military said several insurgents had been killed in the fighting on Sunday. The Defence Ministry said one Afghan soldier had been killed while the insurgents had suffered heavy casualties.

"The ground force commander called in close air support on the reinforced defensive positions ... (which) contained large numbers of heavily armed insurgents," the U.S. military said.

The U.S. military said villagers in the area lived in fear of insurgents supporting the Hezb-e Islami faction led by former prime minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who is allied with the Taliban and al Qaeda.

Violence has surged in Afghanistan over the past two years. More than 6,000 people killed last year, almost a third of them civilians.

The Taliban and their allies have vowed to step up their violent campaign to expel foreign forces and bring down the Western-backed government of President Hamid Karzai.

The U.S. military and the Defence Ministry said there were no reports of civilian casualties in the battle in Nuristan.

Seven insurgents had been captured and three government soldiers wounded, the ministry said. (Additional reporting by Jonathon Burch; Writing by Robert Birsel; Editing by David Fogarty)

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