U.S. Army Specialist Hernandez from Dagger Company, 2-12 Infantry, 4th Brigade patrols through the village of Kandigal in the Pesh Valley in Afghanistan's Kunar Province July 25, 2009. This brigade is part of NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
According to the Afghan Defense Ministry, militants attacked three government buildings including a commercial bank in the town and started fighting pitched battles with security forces. The militants who attacked the buildings are said to have been well-armed.
Three bomb blasts were also heard near the site of the clashes. The attacks come amid rising insurgency in the country ahead of the critical presidential elections scheduled for August 20.
A spokesman for the Taliban-aligned Haqqani network has claimed to have "inflicted heavy casualties" to the Afghan security forces during the clashes.
Violence has escalated across Afghanistan since tens of thousands of additional US Marines and British troops joined the mission and new offensives have been launched in the southern province of Helmand, the heartland of the Taliban.
Violence this year has reached its highest level since the US first ousted the Taliban from Afghanistan in 2001.
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