Roadside bombs and battles with Taliban forces killed six police and left 13 Taliban fighters dead or wounded in four separate incidents in southern Afghanistan, officials said today.

Ten Afghan civilians were killed when a bus collided with a US military vehicle today.

Afghanistan’s government claimed that al-Qaida and Taliban rebels launched a violent campaign last week to subvert landmark legislative elections with a deadly suicide bombing and a failed attempt to down a US military aircraft with a shoulder-launched missile.