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Last Updated: Monday, 25 April, 2005, 12:59 GMT 13:59 UK
'Six dead' in Kandahar gun battle
Six people have been killed in a suspected Taleban attack on a mayor's office in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar, police say.

They say the attack led to an hour-long gun battle with government troops.

Deputy police chief Salim Khan told the Associated Press that 60 gunmen had attacked the office. Four attackers and two soldiers had died, he said.

The clash is the latest in a series, which observers say shows the rebels are stepping up their campaign.

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"We found the bodies of the four dead Taleban along with their AK-47s and machine-guns," Mr Khan said.

He told the AFP news agency that the attackers came from "behind the border", in Pakistan's tribal areas where the militants are believed to have bases.

Feuds

Correspondents say that Kandahar is still affected by Afghanistan's three-year-old insurgency and is used as a base by people smuggling drugs out of the country through Pakistan.

There are also violent factional feuds in the area, which officials regularly blame on the Taleban.

On Sunday, the Romanian government said one of its soldiers had been killed and two others injured when their patrol vehicle struck a mine near the city of Kandahar - a former Taleban stronghold.

In other incidents over the weekend, the US army reported the deaths of four suspected militants and two Afghan soldiers.




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