Taliban militants armed with guns and suicide vests have launched a coordinated attack on government offices in southwestern Afghanistan, killing at least four people.
Officials say the attack began Wednesday when nine militants tried to access the governor's compound in Zaranj, the capital of Nimroz province.
Security officials say all the attackers were killed. Eight bombers managed to detonate their explosives outside government buildings, and a ninth was shot by security forces during a subsequent gunbattle.
A female member of the Nimroz provincial council and two police officers were among the dead. Eleven others were wounded.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.
Nimroz neighbors restive Helmand province and is known as a major trafficking route for Afghanistan's illicit opium trade, which provides funding for militants.
Taliban attacks have increased ahead of a planned NATO offensive in Kandahar province.
Separately, the Danish military said a militant attack on its patrol base Tuesday night left 11 Danish soldiers and two Afghan interpreters wounded.
The military said the attack took place at its base near Gereshk in southern Afghanistan just before a heavy sand storm moved in. All the wounded were evacuated to a nearby field hospital.
In western Herat province, floodwaters killed at least 12 people and destroyed homes early Wednesday.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
