Taliban militants have fought fierce battles with coalition and Afghan forces in a dramatic upsurge of violence in southern Afghanistan that has left more than 100 people - mostly rebels – dead, according to officials.
Two suicide bombs also rocked the insurgency-hit country.
One in western Afghanistan killed a US anti-narcotics adviser, while a civilian died in the other in the south.
The battles, in which 13 police and a Canadian soldier also died, were all in the volatile south and came weeks before NATO-led peacekeepers are due to take over operations in the troubled region at the end of July.
It was the worst violence for months in Afghanistan, where remnants of the ultra-Islamic Taliban continue to wage a bloody insurgency more than four years after their hardline regime was ousted by US-led forces.
