Taliban-led offensive flared across southern Afghanistan on Monday with fighters taking control of two southern towns while also killing a US-led coalition soldier and wounding 11 others in a fierce firefight, officials said.

An unidentified bomber killed three Justice Ministry employees after blowing himself up inside their offices in Helmand, where three Afghan soldiers also lost their lives in a roadside bombing.

Afghan officials said scores of Taliban forces overran Afghan policemen holed up in a compound in the Helmand town of Garmser, near the Pakistan border, on Sunday, forcing the security forces and a handful of government officials to flee, a local government official said. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Taliban forces were now “moving freely” around the town and district of the same name.

On Monday, large numbers of Taliban fighters also entered Naway-i-Barakzayi, a Helmand town north of Garmser, and clashed briefly with police before they too fled.

PHOTO CAPTION

Women pass British soldiers standing guard during the distribution of school bags to Afghan children on the outskirts of Kabul last month. (AFP)