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Over 60 dead in Afghanistan

Over 60 dead in Afghanistan

Sixty-one people were killed and dozens wounded in Afghanistan in the past 24 hours, in what has been described as one of the most troubled periods of civil unrest for President Hamid Karzai’s inchoate government in more than a year.

In the southern province of Helmand, a bomb killed 17 people onboard a bus, according to news agency reports.

It is thought a woman and six children were among the dead.

Taliban and al Qaeda insurgents are thought to have launched the attack.

In the remote province of Uruzgan, at least 25 are reported to have died in local clashes between supporters of Amanullah, a sacked provincial official, and the new incumbent, Abdul Rahman Khan, according to an unnamed cabinet minister.

On Tuesday, in sporadic fighting in south east Afghanistan, government troops claim to have killed 16 Taliban and al Qaeda fighters. Five government soldiers were killed.

The fighting comes two days after the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), took over of the International Security and Assistance Force, the multinational peacekeeping force which patrols in and around Kabul.