Taliban guerrillas have killed more than 30 people and abducted 10 in southern Afghanistan, a parliamentarian said today.
The killings happened in two separate ambushes in the restive province of Helmand yesterday, said Dad Mohammad Khan, who lost two brothers and a son in the attacks.
Mr Khan, a member of the upper house and an former spy chief for Helmand, said the Taliban killed six policeman and one of his brothers, a former provincial official, in the first attack.
When relatives of the victims went to the site to recover the bodies, they too came under attack from the Taliban and 25 were believed to have been killed, he added.
The Taliban have stepped up attacks in the south ahead of Nato taking over from US forces, and coalition troops have launched their biggest offensive against the Taliban since the 2001 invasion.
Almost 1,000 people have been killed in Taliban violence and coalition-led operations in Afghanistan this year, including more than 40 foreign soldiers, most of them Americans.
Nato troops are due to take over responsibility for the south soon, allowing the United States to reduce its troop levels in the country to 20,000 from about 23,000.