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Official: Dozens wounded or dead from weekend clashes in Afghanistan

By the CNN Wire Staff
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • NEW: A provincial spokesman says 14 insurgents have been killed by security forces
  • Casualties from clashes in Kandahar include police and civilians, the spokesman says
  • The Taliban says it aimed to arrest or kill the governor and demoralize forces
  • President Hamid Karzai says the attacks are a revenge for Osama bin Laden's death

Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Clashes raged for a second day Sunday as insurgents shot at national security officials in southern Afghanistan, a provincial spokesman said.

Violence in Kandahar province on Saturday resulted in 25 casualties, including police and civilians, said Zelmai Ayoubi, a spokesman for Kandahar's governor.

Ayoubi said Sunday it was unclear how many of the casualties were killed. But he said numerous insurgents have been killed or arrested.

"So far, 14 insurgents have been killed by security forces, seven others have detonated themselves and four others been arrested by security forces in Kandahar city," the spokesman said.

On Saturday, the Taliban claimed responsibility for strikes on government buildings in Kandahar city.

"This operation is a part of the Bader seasonal operation, and the aim of this was to arrest or kill the governor of the Kandahar and demoralize the Afghan and international forces in Afghanistan," Taliban spokesman Qari Yousof Ahmadi told CNN.

Bader is a reference to a battle in the early days of Islam, when the Prophet Mohammed is believed to have successfully led a key fight against non-Muslims.

The Kandahar provincial governor, Tooryalai Wesa, eluded injury and capture Saturday, according to Ahmad Wali Karzai, chief of Kandahar's provincial council.

NATO's International Security Assistance Force said the attacks began with a combined rocket-propelled grenade attack and small-arms fire on Wesa's compound. Assaults on an array of targets followed.

ISAF said the Afghanistan National Chief of Police Headquarters, the Transportation Police Headquarters, Police Sub-station One and various ANSF and ISAF buildings in Kandahar city and the Arghandab River valley were attacked.

Maryam Dorani, a member of Kandahar's provincial council, said Taliban fighters used a high school as a shooting position on the governor's office.

ISAF said there were reports of more than five suicide bombers utilizing vehicle-borne explosive devices were involved in the attack.

Ayoubi said that from the beginning of this attack, "more then 10 explosions have been happened across Kandahar city."

"Initial reports indicate that between three and six suicide bombers were stopped -- either detonating prematurely or being killed before they could detonate," ISAF said.

U.S. Marine Corps Maj. Gen. James B. Laster, an ISAF spokesman, said Afghan forces thwarted a "spring offensive spectacular attack" that wounded civilians, who the Taliban vowed to protect.

"Afghan National Security Forces responded calmly and capably and with limited ISAF assistance, (and) were able to restore calm to the city," he said.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai claimed the assault was an act of revenge over the death of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Karzai condemned the attacks Saturday. He also deplored the militants' use of schools to launch strikes, an action that he said underscores their embrace of terrorism and disdain for education.

The Taliban assault came a day after the group confirmed the killing of bin Laden, who was slain in a U.S. military raid in Pakistan on Monday.

"Today's operation was planned a week ago, and we will think about the attacks about revenges of the Sheikh Osama's murder in the future," Ahmadi said Saturday.