12 Dead in Afghanistan

9 civilians and 3 soldiers killed in violence in Afghanistan. Again, the civilians get the brunt of the taliban's rage. AFP

KABUL (AFP) — Twelve people including three foreign soldiers were killed in a spate of bombings and gun battles in Afghanistan, including one firefight between police and opium growers, officials said Wednesday.

The worst gun battle erupted when farmers, whom police said were linked to "armed opposition groups" -- a reference to Taliban and other rebels -- resisted anti-drugs forces trying to destroy their illegal but lucrative crop.

A policeman and four locals were killed in the fight in Laghman province's Alishing area, about 70 kilometres (45 miles) northeast of Kabul, provincial government spokesman Wakil Atak said. Five policemen were wounded, he said.

Provincial police chief Abdul Karim Omaryar confirmed that four locals were killed but said only two policemen were hurt and none killed.

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"I am sure they were elements from the armed opposition groups," he said of the locals.

Afghanistan is the world's top producer of opium, accounting for more than 90 percent of global supply worth about four billion dollars.

Officials say profits from the booming drugs trade in part fund an insurgency by the Taliban, who were in government between 1996 and 2001, and other radical factions.

Most of the violence takes place in southern and eastern Afghanistan, areas bordering Pakistan's tribal areas where radical rebels, including those from Al-Qaeda, are said to have bases.