Gun battle rages in Afghan town of Tarin Kowt

BBC.COM
Security forces are battling insurgents who have launched a gun and bomb attack on a southern Afghan town.

At least two loud explosions have been heard in Tarin Kowt in Uruzgan province - one was near the governors' office.

Suicide bombers were among the insurgents who also attacked the town's bazaar and several government offices, local security sources told the BBC.

Reports say at least two people have been killed and Nato helicopters have fired at the militants from the air.

Eyewitness Mohammad Dadu, a butcher, told the BBC: ''I didn't have time to close my shop. I saw two dead bodies and four injured people with blood on their clothes."

Afghan militants have stepped up their attacks as Nato troops begin the handover of security to local forces in parts of the country.

On Wednesday the mayor of the volatile city of Kandahar was killed in a suicide attack.

Two weeks ago, President Hamid Karzai's influential half-brother, Ahmad Wali Karzai, was killed in the same city.