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Fierce gun battle in Afghan city Militants die in Afghan shootout
(about 7 hours later)
A gun battle has broken out between Afghan security forces and militants in the southern city of Lashkar Gah, Nato officials say. An attack by Taliban fighters in the southern Afghan city of Lashkar Gah has been repelled by government troops backed by Nato forces, officials say.
They say that the fighting began when insurgents tried to launch "a co-ordinated attack" on the Afhgan National Army (ANA). Five militants had been killed and four Afghan soldiers injured in an eight-hour gun battle, the officials added.
A statement said that while firing is continuing, the attack has been contained by the ANA and Nato forces. The Taliban said seven men with suicide bombs and machine guns had killed 20 Afghan and foreign soldiers in government buildings and an army base.
The main group of attackers are now surrounded, the statement said. Lashkar Gah is the capital of volatile Helmand province.
"At 0946 local time on Friday insurgents attempted an attack on the Afghan National Army's Sharwali Barracks, located on the western edge of Lashkar Gah," a British military spokesman told the BBC. Provincial officials said the attack had started about 1000 local time (0530 GMT) when militants took over an empty four-storey building under construction near the Sharwali barracks and opened fire on soldiers and police.
"The attack was primarily small arms fire and mainly from an unoccupied four-storey building to the south of the barracks." Nato spokesman Lt Nico Melendez said international forces had provided attack helicopters as Afghan forces laid siege to the building.
The statement also added that no casualties had been reported. The militants took over an empty building
Extra troops have been deployed and attack helicopters are over the city and firing on insurgents, Nato said. When the battle finally ended near nightfall, five attackers had been killed, said Afghan Army Gen Sher Mohammad Zazai.
Volatile province He said four Afghan soldiers had been wounded in the clash but there had been no civilian casualties.
Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi told the Associated Press news agency that seven men armed with suicide vests and machine guns attacked the UN office and a guesthouse used by government officials in Lashkar Gah, capital of volatile Helmand province. Daud Ahmadi, a spokesman for the provincial governor, said "two to three" of the attackers had detonated their explosives.
The Taliban insurgency is at its fiercest in south and east Afghanistan.The Taliban insurgency is at its fiercest in south and east Afghanistan.
Militants frequently launch attacks on security forces in southern Afghanistan. UK and other Nato troops are set to launch the biggest operation yet in Helmand, the BBC learned on Monday.
UK and other Nato troops are set to launch the biggest operation yet in Helmand, the BBC learned on Monday