Kandahar: About 100 people were killed in two of the most violent days in Afghanistan since the 2001 ouster of the Taliban, as hundreds of insurgents attacked a southern town and fighting flared across the country.
Government officials said 13 policemen and 40 Taliban were killed in hours of fighting that raged after the strike on Mosa Qala town, 470 kilometres southwest of Kabul, was launched on Wednesday evening.
Helmand's deputy governor, Amir Mohammad Akhundzada, said it was the biggest strike in the province by the hardline Islamists since they were driven from power more than four years ago.
The Taliban have stepped up attacks on foreign and Afghan government forces in recent months as thousands more NATO peacekeepers arrive. Violence in parts of the country is the worst it has been since the end of their rule.
In a separate incident, a suicide car bomber attacked a convoy in the generally peaceful western city of Herat, killing himself and an American civilian.
A suicide bomber also attacked a US military convoy near Ghazni town, killing himself and a man on a motorcycle.
In fighting in the area on Thursday, seven Taliban were confirmed killed and up to 20 others might have been killed in an airstrike, the US military said.
Three policemen and an intelligence official were killed in other attacks in Ghazni, the provincial governor said.
In Helmand, Afghan forces battled the insurgents after they withdrew from Mosa Qala, Akhundzada said.
There had been civilian casualties but he said he did not know how many. The Taliban attacked government offices and police stations, and many shops in the town’s market caught fire, Akhundzada said.
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