KABUL (Afghanistan) - AIR strikes and ground battles killed three dozen Taleban and two civilians while an insurgent suicide bombing on the border claimed two more lives in Afghanistan, authorities said on Tuesday.

Who's responsible? NO ONE claimed responsibility for the attack but most similar bombings have been claimed by insurgents from the Taleban militia that was ousted from power in late 2001 by a US-led invasion of Afghanistan. In the northern province of Baghlan, a clash erupted on Monday after the Taleban had demanded a 'tax' from farmers, which the locals refused, police said. ... more Increasing violence THE TALEBAN-LED insurgency has intensified this year as Afghan and international troops launch operations to clear them out of hotspots ahead of the August 20 presidential and provincial council elections. There are concerns the violence may derail the elections and Afghanistan's partners are sending in thousands of military reinforcements. ... more

The US military said it had called in air strikes in remote mountains in eastern Afghanistan near the border with Pakistan overnight and killed more than a dozen Islamist militants in bunkers. A local official said 22 men were killed, many of them foreign nationals.

The strikes in the eastern province of Khost were called in against senior commanders of the Haqqani network, a Taleban outfit that is linked to Al-Qaeda and accused of some of the most sophisticated attacks in Afghanistan.

'Coalition force aircraft were called in and destroyed a pair of command bunkers, killing more than a dozen militants', a US statement said.

The statement described the network as one of the 'most lethal Taleban organisations' and said it operated out of Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Area just across the border.

The network is said to be behind several attacks in Kabul, including one on a five-star hotel in 2008 and the attempted assassination of President Hamid Karzai in April last year.

The strikes were in a border district called Waza Khwar and 22 Taleban were killed, said district governor Abdul Wali Zadran.

Governor Zadran claimed the dead were all foreign nationals but there was no way to confirm this. An Afghan media report said some were Arabs.

Also on the border with Pakistan, a suicide attacker blew himself up at a checkpoint, killing a policeman and a 12-year-old child, a provincial government spokesman said.

The attacker struck near a room at the Torkham border post used for searching women travellers, Nangarhar province spokesman Ahmad Zia Abdulzai told AFP. Three policemen, a policewoman and six civilians were injured, he said. -- AFP