KABUL - Militants killed nine Afghan soldiers in an ambush while the Taliban death toll from a battle with US and Afghan troops rose to at least 40 in a wave of violence sweeping southern Afghanistan, officials said Thursday.
Rebels loyal to the ousted Islamic regime have launched a bloody spring offensive against Afghan government and military targets as well as the US-led coalition in the past month.
The renewed Taliban drive has left at least 100 insurgents and 12 police dead as the weather has become warmer in past one month, Interior Minister Ali Ahmed Jalali told a press conference.
Nine Afghan soldiers were killed and three wounded in an ambush on Wednesday by "enemies of Afghanistan" in Shawali Kot, a troubled district of southern Kandahar province, defence ministry spokesman Mohammad Nohman Atifi told AFP.
He did not link the attackers to any particular group but similar attacks have in the past been blamed on remnants of the Taliban. Kandahar is regarded as the birthplace of the hardline movement.
The wounded soldiers were taken to a local hospital, the official said. He had no information if the attackers sustained any casualties.
US and Afghan officials on Thursday said the number of Taliban militants killed in a firefight in neighbouring Zabul province had doubled to at least 40.
Initial reports said 20 militants died in the clash on Tuesday in the troubled district of Deh Chopan, along with an Afghan police officer, while six US servicemen and five Afghan police were wounded, the US military said.
"Today, further reports indicate that the toll is going up to 40 for rebels," said Lieutenant Cindy Moore, a US coalition spokeswoman.
The clash was sparked when militants kidnapped three local doctors and police tried to free them, Interior Minister Jalali said.
"Finally the three doctors were freed safely," he added.
General Muslim Hamed, military commander for southern Afghanistan, told AFP 44 insurgents had been killed in fighting since Tuesday.
There was no independent confirmation of the figures given by the US and Afghan officials. There was no immediate comment from the Taliban.
Meanwhile one Afghan policeman was killed in another clash between militants and Afghan and coalition forces in Zabul on Wednesday, interior ministry spokesman Lutfullah Mashal told AFP.
"There was a joint operation with coalition forces in Khak-e-Afghan district of Zabul which went on to 7:00 pm (1430 GMT). One policeman died, two were wounded and there are no details on enemy casualties at this moment," he said.
Pockets of Taliban insurgents are still waging a rebellion in provinces along the Afghan-Pakistani border three years after they were forced out of power by the US-led coalition forces following the September 11 attacks.
President Hamid Karzai has offered an olive branch to all but a hardcore of 150 militants accused of crimes against humanity, while the Taliban`s former foreign minister this week urged them to join peace talks.
More than 18,000 US-led troops are in Afghanistan hunting militants along with the fledgling national army.
05/05/2005 11:53 GMT