US-led coalition forces and Afghan police killed 20 suspected Taliban in the latest fighting to hit southern Afghanistan, as NATO today prepared to take command in the insurgency-wracked region.

SOUTHERN Afghanistan will witness “significant fighting” between US-led coalition and Taliban forces for several months before Nato takes control of the region, the US army warned yesterday.

A bomb exploded aboard a minibus taking Afghan workers to a coalition air bae today, killing seven, as a major anti-Taliban military offensive got underway across southern Afghanistan.