Afghan troops battle Taliban attackers in southeast

KHOST, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Afghan security forces clashed with a group of Taliban fighters, including suicide bombers, who attacked a government building in a volatile southeastern town on Monday, a local official and residents said.

Rohullah Samoon, a spokesman for the governor of Paktia province, said government forces had cornered the attackers in a market in the town of Gardez, about 100 km (60 miles) southeast of Kabul, after more than two hours of clashes.

"We have killed three of the attackers in the market and are trying to either capture the rest alive or kill them so civilians are not harmed," Samoon said by telephone from Gardez.

He gave no other details about the number of militants but said there had been no casualties among Afghan forces or civilians.

A Taliban provincial commander said five of the Islamist group's fighters, equipped with suicide vests and heavy weapons, had launched the attack.

Violence in Afghanistan this year has spiralled to its highest levels since the Taliban were overthrown by U.S.-backed Afghan forces in late 2001.

Washington is sending 30,000 extra troops to Afghanistan in an attempt to stem the mounting violence, with NATO allies also contributing thousands more. Civilian and military casualty tolls have reached record levels this year.

The mounting violence has coincided with a long period of political uncertainty. Afghan President Hamid Karzai was confirmed last month as the winner of a fraud-marred election in August and presented his cabinet nominations on Saturday.

ROAD CLOSED

Residents said the main road linking Gardez with neighbouring provinces and the capital had been closed for security reasons.

Small- and heavy-arms fire was heard in the heart of the town after the insurgents attacked a key police building close to other government offices, residents said.

Residents said shopkeepers had pulled down their shutters in the centre of the town, a frequent target of Taliban militants. In July, nine people were killed when Taliban gunmen and suicide bombers, some dressed as women, launched a similar attack.

Pad Shah Khan Zadran, a lawmaker from Paktia, interrupted a session of parliament being broadcast live on national television to tell delegates about the latest attack.

"A large number of Taliban suicide bombers have entered the town. The situation is bad and fighting is going on," he said.

A spokesman for NATO-led forces in Afghanistan said he had no information about the incident and could not say whether foreign troops were involved.

There are already some 110,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan battling the Taliban-led insurgency, which is strongest in the south and east but has spread this year into formerly peaceful areas in the north and west.

The Taliban have carried out an increasing number of attacks in recent years, often targeting Afghan and foreign security forces in an attempt to overthrow the Afghan government and drive international troops out of the country.

Western leaders with troops fighting in Afghanistan, and who pump billions of dollars of aid into the country, have become increasingly critical of corruption in the Afghan government since Karzai's fraud-hit election win.

(Additional reporting by Kamal Sadat; Writing by Sayed Salahuddin; Editing by Paul Tait)

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