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105 die in violence across Afghanistan

KANDAHAR: Some of the fiercest violence since the Taliban's 2001 ouster erupted across Afghanistan, with coalition forces engaging in multiple fire-fights, two suicide car bombs and a massive rebel assault on a small village. Up to 105 persons were killed.

The estimates of Taliban fighters and suicide bombers killed ranged up to 87, with 15 Afghan police, an American civilian, an Afghan civilian and a Canadian soldier also killed in the multiple attacks late on Wednesday and Thursday, officials said.

Assault on town

The battles between Afghan or coalition forces and Taliban militants — which were concentrated in the south — follow months of stepped-up attacks in the region. An assault by hundreds of fighters on a small southern town was one of the largest attacks by militants since 2001 and marked another escalation in the campaign by supporters of the former Taliban regime to challenge the U.S.-backed Government of President Hamid Karzai.

The attack late on Wednesday and early on Thursday on a police and Government headquarters in Musa Qala in Helmand province sparked eight hours of clashes with security forces. The Interior Ministry said about 40 militants were killed, though police said they had retrieved only 14 bodies.

The Interior Ministry said 13 police were killed and five wounded in the attack some 150 km northwest of Kandahar. — AP

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