Afghanistan: Security forces hunts for 100 Taliban after fighting

The number of police killed in the clash Sunday in Panjwayi district of Kandahar province rose to five as a wounded officer died in hospital, said provincial spokesman Dawood Ahmadi.

Photo: Afghanistan: Security forces hunts for 100 Taliban after fighting

One of the two dead Taliban commanders was identified as Mullah Abdul Manan, who Ahmadi claimed led a Taliban suicide squad responsible for numerous bombings. This could not be immediately confirmed.

An unknown number of civilians were also wounded in the fighting, which erupted after security forces surrounded a village where the insurgents were hiding, the spokesman said. Up to 100 rebels are believed to have fled after the battle, he said.

Meanwhile, Afghan and U.S.-led coalition forces arrested seven suspected rebel bomb-makers during an operation in eastern Khost province Sunday, a U.S. military statement said.

In a separate statement, the military said an Afghan woman and child were wounded by a rocket fired at a military base in eastern Paktia province Monday, the AP reports.

Two Canadian soldiers were wounded when their convoy hit a roadside bomb in Kandahar province Monday, said force spokesman Maj. Quentin Innis.

Violence has been on the increase in Afghanistan in the past year, raising fears for this country's nascent democracy and leaving swaths of southern and eastern regions off-limits to aid workers.