WASHINGTON — A U.S. rocket artillery strike last week on a gathering of Taliban leaders in southern Afghanistan killed at least 50 of them, a U.S. military official said Tuesday.

A spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan said a weapon system known as the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, which is capable of firing GPS-guided rockets, destroyed a meeting place for high-level Taliban leaders. He said at least 50 leaders were killed.

Additional, unspecified numbers of Taliban officials were killed in U.S. airstrikes over a recent 10-day period, the spokesman said.