Taliban militants attacked a government office in southern Afghanistan, sparking a gunbattle that left five people dead, including a rebel commander, an Afghan official said today.

Afghan security forces have killed three suspected Taliban rebels and arrested 13 others in different regions of southern Afghanistan, according to officials.

US forces detained 35 Taliban suspects today, including a rebel commander, as they swept through a province in south-eastern Afghanistan.

US forces battled Taliban suspects in a forbidding mountain range in southern Afghanistan, killing two fighters and arresting two others.