AFP - Getty Images

Taliban militia fighters at a cemetery near the site where a CH-47 Chinook helicopter carrying US troops crashed killing 38 personnel including 30 US soldiers, in the remote Tangi Valley in Wardak province, Afghanistan, on August 10.

Photographs of active Taliban fighters are rare - understandably so due to the danger the militia poses to journalists, both foreign and local.

The picture above was made available by Agence France Presse (AFP) through Getty Images late on Wednesday. It shows Taliban militia in the remote Tangi Valley, near the site where a U.S. Chinook helicopter was downed a few days earlier with the loss of 38 lives. I asked for more information on the photo, and AFP's local bureau helpfully supplied a few more details:

As usual we ran through a series of our own checks to determine the source of this photograph - having satisfied ourselves it was from a legitimate source we released the photograph.

I cannot tell you the photographer's identity for his own security or what the men were doing in the cemetery, or whether they are directly related to the Chinook incident.

The top American commander in Afghanistan, Marine Corps Gen. John Allen, said on Wednesday that an airstrike by international forces had killed the Taliban insurgents responsible for the downing of the helicopter, the AP reported.

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• Story - Family, friends remember fallen troops as heroes
• Video - US airstrike kills fighters who shot down Chinook: