Rebel assault kills 105 in Afghanistan

Some of the fiercest violence since the Taliban’s ouster erupted on Thursday across Afghanistan, with coalition forces engaging in multiple firefights...

Some of the fiercest violence since the Taliban’s ouster erupted on Thursday across Afghanistan, with coalition forces engaging in multiple firefights, two suicide car bombs and a massive rebel assault on a small village. Up to 105 people were killed.

Much of the violence occurred in Helmand and Kandahar provinces, where thousands of extra NATO troops are scheduled to deploy this summer to counter an increasing number of attacks from a stubborn insurgency.

The Taliban death toll from fighting on Wednesday night and Thursday ranged up to 87, US and Afghan officials said. Also, 15 Afghan police officers, one American civilian, a Canadian soldier and an Afghan civilian were killed in the attacks.

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Taliban rebels are made up of ethnic Pashtuns, the majority in Afghanistan’s southern and eastern regions near the border with Pakistan. Insurgent attacks have been concentrated there, though the violence has rarely been as fierce as the last 24 hours.

An assault by hundreds of rebels on a 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 US-backed government of President Hamid Karzai.

The attack on late Wednesday and early 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.

–NOOR KHAN

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