A group of Taliban fighters including suicide attackers armed with heavy weapons and bombs launched an assault on a Nato base in southern Kandahar province early Tuesday, local officials said.

The attack in the outskirts of Kandahar city at northern district of Shawalikot was launched a 7 member group of Taliban insurgents before the dawn who were killed by Isaf forces after a 15 minutes gun battle. Local official said.

9 Isaf soldiers were wounded in the incident as no deaths were reported by Isaf immediately, local official said through a phone call.

Taliban have claimed responsibility of the attack that many foreign and Afghan soldiers were killed in the early morning attack that US base in Shawalikot district.

Hours later, another group of Taliban fighters, dressd in Afghan police uniform, attack on a joint Afghan and Isaf checkpoint at the Kandahar city killing three Afghan policemen, Ahmad Jawed Faisal, provincial spokesman said.

Police foiled a separate Taliban attack on another police post, resulting in the deaths of two assailants, he said by phone. A Taliban spokesman only confirmed the attack on the NATO camp and the joint post, putting the losses of foreign and Afghan forces to more than 20.
Kandahar used to be the main seat of power for the Taliban which ruled Afghanistan in the 1990s before its ouster in late 2001. Since then, the province has been the scene of some of the worst violence.

The latest strikes came hours after three men in Afghan police uniforms killed an alliance soldier in another part of Kandahar on Monday, latest in a spate of attacks by "rogue" Afghan forces. A senior Afghan police officer said the victim was an American serviceman.

Separately, eight Afghan civilians lost their lives when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in neighboring Helmand province, the office for Helmand's governor said.