Canadian soldiers run for cover after an explosion in Kandahar province.
A suicide bombing early today has killed another policeman and five civilians, on a day when Afghans celebrate the New Year celebration of Nowruz.
Four of the soldiers who died on Friday were Canadians, part of the International Security Assistance Force, and were killed in two separate blasts that also killed an interpreter and an Afghan national, said the Canadian military.
A Taliban attack in the south western province of Farah left nine of the policemen dead, along with six of the attackers.
Another nine policemen were killed along with a district chief in a clash with the Taliban in the northern province of Jawzjan, an unusual battlefield for the extremists, who mainly focus on southern and eastern Afghanistan.
Elsewhere, a suicide bomber blew up an explosive-filled police vehicle, killing one policeman and wounding two, while seven Taliban fighters were killed in an exchange with US and Afghan troops who were attempting to foil an alleged planned attack on a governor’s home.
The growing unrest has led Washington to deploy 17,000 more troops to Afghanistan, due in the coming weeks.
A Nato general who heads troops in the south said the move would trigger more violence but would help improve security in the longer run.
“I’m absolutely sure that we will see a very important year in RC (Regional Command) South, that we will see a spike in incidents once the US force hits the ground, but the situation will significantly change in a positive way within the next year,” said Dutch commander Major General Mart de Kruif.
There are currently 75,000 international soldiers deployed in Afghanistan to help Kabul fight the insurgency, which last year reached its deadliest point yet.
About 38,000 of them are American and around 8,500 are British.