Suspected Taliban launched a string of attacks on security posts in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, killing nine soldiers, an official said. The attacks on the road between Girishk, in southern Helmand province, and Delawar in the western province of Farah, came two weeks before a landmark presidential election.
Haji Mohammad Wali, spokesman for the governor of Helmand province, said an unspecified number of gunmen launched raids on three security posts beginning early on Saturday morning.
Three soldiers were killed in the first attack, six in the second and there were no casualties in the third.
Wali blamed the "enemies of Afghanistan", a phrase often used to describe remnants of the ousted Taleban militia, which opposes the election and has been accused of launching a wave of violence that has claimed more than 1,000 lives since August last year.
Taleban fighters were also linked to a rocket attack on the helicopter of President Hamid Karzai as he made his first election campaign trip outside Kabul earlier this month.