KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) -- The top Taliban military commander on Monday said that NATO's claims to have killed more than 200 insurgents over the weekend were propaganda and warned that his men would target journalists who reported "wrong information" given by the U.S.-led coalition or NATO.

"They are saying that they have killed 200 Taliban but they did not kill even 10 Taliban," said Mullah Dadullah, Taliban military commander for south and southeastern Afghanistan. "They are just destroying civilian homes and agricultural land. They are using the media to do propaganda against the Taliban."

Dadullah spoke to The Associated Press in a satellite phone call from an undisclosed location. The reporter has spoken to him in the past and recognized his voice.

"From today, I want to tell journalists that if in future they use wrong information from coalition forces or NATO we will target those journalists and media," Dadullah said. "We have the Islamic right to kill these journalists and media."

NATO reported Sunday that more than 200 Taliban fighters had died in the first two days of the joint NATO-Afghan operation in Panjwayi, a district near the southern city of Kandahar, and claimed it had disrupted the militia's command and control. The Afghan Defense Ministry reported 89 militants were killed and there were some civilian casualties.

The casualty counts could not be independently verified as reporters could not access the area of the battle, which was continuing Monday.

At least five Canadian soldiers have been killed in the fighting. The U.S. military has said warplanes involved in friendly fire incident that killed a Canadian soldier in Afghanistan and seriously wounded five others were U.S. A-10 Thunderbolts.

'Make every sacrifice'

Dadullah said he was speaking from a mountain where he was accompanied by a large group of mujahedeen, or holy warriors, who were ready to make "every sacrifice."

Dadullah claimed that the Taliban had registered 500 Afghans ready to be used as suicide bombers against "the intruders who have occupied our Islamic country" and that Taliban from outlying districts had entered cities to launch attacks. He warned local people to stay away from NATO and coalition troops.

"Now we are going to change our tactics, using a new weapon we did not have in the past, to target U.S. and allied forces," Dadullah said without elaborating. "We will create a big problem for them."

He said Mullah Omar -- the fugitive leader of the Taliban regime ousted by U.S.-led forces in late 2001 -- was still the movement's supreme commander.

Taliban-led insurgents have stepped up attacks this year, leaving hundreds of militants, Afghan and foreign security forces and civilians dead, mostly in the south and east. The insecurity has shaken faith in the elected, U.S.-backed government of President Hamid Karzai.

Dadullah, who lost a leg fighting for the Taliban during its rise to power in the mid-1990s, is regarded as the group's top military commander and is wanted by the U.S.-led coalition hunting Taliban and al Qaeda fighters.

NATO convoy targeted

A car bomb targeting a NATO convoy killed four Afghan civilians and one NATO soldier in Afghan capital on Monday, NATO and Afghan officials said. (Watch aftermath of car bombing -- 1:22)

The explosion happened on the Kabul-Jalalabad road at 10:15 a.m. and wounded four NATO troops, said Maj. Toby Jackman.

Maj. Luke Knittig, another NATO spokesman, said one the wounded troops later died of his injuries. He said one of the other wounded was in serious condition. Two sustained light injuries. NATO did not give the soldiers' nationalities.

Meanwhile, suspected Taliban militants attacked a district headquarters in a southern Afghan town early Monday, sparking fighting that left 16 militants and three police dead, an official said.

A "big group" of militants launched the attack in Garmser, in Helmand province, at around 1 a.m., and retreated after four hours of fighting, said provincial police chief Ghulam Nadi Malakhel.

Both sides used assault rifles, heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades in the fighting, that damaged the headquarters compound, which is shared by the Garmser district administration and police.

Malakhel said the militants took away seven bodies of their comrades and 10 wounded, but left nine bodies behind, along with an array of weapons.

He said a Taliban group commander, Mullah Sattar, was among the dead.