Five Afghan security personnel have died in a series of Taliban strikes in eastern Afghanistan, officials say.

当地官员称，五名阿富汗安全人员在阿富汗东部一系列塔利班攻击中死亡。

Gunmen and suicide bombers¹ targeted four sites in the city of Gardez, among them the governor's compound. Four bombers were reported killed.

During an attack in Jalalabad, near the Pakistan border, at least one militant² was killed and another captured.

The battles come amid a spike³（长钉，钉鞋） of violence in the country ahead of elections on 20 August.

Taliban militants⁴ have carried out similar co-ordinated attacks on provincial⁵ cities in recent months.

In May, six people were killed when militants launched simultaneous（同时发生的） assaults on government buildings in the city of Khost, also in eastern Afghanistan.

Shootout

In Gardez, the militants attacked the police chief's office, a police station and the intelligence directorate（董事，董事会）, as well as the governor's compound, Afghan officials said.

A Taliban spokesman said 15 militants, all wearing suicide vests, planned to launch attacks in the city. Afghan officials refused to comment on that claim.

Reports said at least two of the attackers carried their bombs underneath⁶ burkas（蒙住全身的长袍）, the all-enveloping dress often worn by Afghan women.

A local trader said there was panic and confusion.

"I was at my shop and I suddenly heard a loud explosion and then gunshots. I saw fire being exchanged between the police and attackers," the trader told the BBC.

In a statement, the defence ministry⁷ said four militants were killed in a shootout and two blew themselves up.

Officials confirmed to the BBC that five Afghan security personnel had been killed.

An Afghan doctor at the hospital in Gardez told the BBC he had received four bodies, all of military personnel.

Meanwhile in Jalalabad at least two militants tried to attack an airport which is a base for Afghan and foreign troops.

Nato-led forces said one blew himself up and another was captured. An Afghan official said one policeman was killed, but that was not confirmed.

Troops 'must stay'

Earlier, a British soldier was killed in an explosion in Helmand province in the south of the country.

He was the 18th British soldier to be killed in Afghanistan this month. The deaths of four US soldiers were announced on Monday.

Also on Monday, Nato head Jaap de Hoop⁸ Scheffer warned that walking away from the war would have a "devastating⁹" effect, allowing extremism（极端主义，过激论） to overwhelm Afghanistan and spread further into Pakistan and Central Asia.

The fight in Afghanistan, he said, was essential to the security of Nato members.

"Those who argue otherwise - who say we can defend against terrorism from home - are simply burying their heads in the sand," he said.