KABUL, Afghanistan — A top Taliban military commander described as a close associate of Osama bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Omar was killed in an airstrike this week close to the border with Pakistan, the U.S. military said Saturday. A purported Taliban spokesman denied the claim.

Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Osmani was killed Tuesday by a U.S. airstrike while traveling by vehicle in a deserted area in the southern province of Helmand, the U.S. military said. Two associates also were killed, the U.S. said.

Osmani, regarded as one of three top associates of Omar, is the highest-ranking Taliban leader that the coalition has claimed to have killed or captured since U.S. forces deployed in Afghanistan to oust of the Taliban regime in late 2001 for hosting bin Laden.

There was no immediate confirmation from Afghan officials or visual proof offered to support the American claim.

A purported Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousef Ahmadi, denied that Osmani had been killed, saying that the airstrike instead killed Mullah Abdul Zahir, a group commander, and three other Taliban fighters.

"I confirm that Osmani is alive and is in Afghanistan," Ahmadi told The Associated Press by phone from an undisclosed location.