KABUL, Afghanistan - A battle pitting NATO and Afghan troops against Taliban fighters in southern Afghanistan killed 20 militants, while police repelled a Taliban attack in eastern Afghanistan, killing six of the insurgents, officials said Friday.
A roadside bomb, meanwhile, exploded on a convoy of U.S.-led coalition forces in Laghman province, causing a number of casualties, the U.S.-led coalition said without providing any further details.
In the southern battle, troops from NATO's International Security Assistance Force as well as Afghan police and soldiers battled Taliban fighters in the Zhari district of Kandahar province, and the three-hour battle left 20 Taliban dead, said Khairuddin Khan, the Zhari district chief.
A Taliban commander called Mullah Naqibullah was among the dead, Khan said.
Neither NATO or Afghan forces suffered any casualties, he said.
In the east, Taliban fighters attacked the home of a police official in Zurmat district of Paktia province late Thursday, said Ghulam Dastagir, deputy provincial police chief. Police reinforcements were called in, sparking a battle that left six Taliban dead, he said.
Five rockets were fired from the top of a mountain in Kunar province, hitting several civilian homes and killing two women, said provincial police chief Abdul Jalal Jalal. Five more civilians were injured.
In Khost province, small bombs exploded before dawn Friday outside the houses of six government officials and a man working as a translator for the U.S. military, said Wazir Pacha, a police spokesman. No one was hurt.
Violence has increased around Afghanistan the last several weeks. More than 1,800 people have died in insurgency-related violence this year, according an Associated Press count based on U.S., NATO and Afghan officials.
