Updated on Monday, August 13, 2007, 00:00 IST

Kabul, Aug 12: A wave of Taliban attacks across Afghanistan killed 29 people, including four international soldiers and nearly two dozen militants, military officials said today.

The violence came after a week of intense fighting as the Taliban's al-Qaeda-backed insurgency, launched nearly six years ago, intensified into the summer.

Three soldiers with the us-led coalition and their Afghan interpreter were killed near the border with Pakistan, when they were hit by a bomb during combat, the force said in a statement.

Taliban fighters were responsible for the attack in Nangarhar province, a spokesman said, claiming the soldiers were us nationals.

The coalition withheld their nationalities but most of the international soldiers in eastern Afghanistan are from the US military.

Earlier, the British Defence Ministry announced that a British soldier was killed and five wounded after their patrol came under fire from Taliban insurgents in southern Afghanistan yesterday.

The attack was in the volatile Sangin district of Helmand province, considered a hotbed of Islamic extremists and opium farmers said to help finance the insurgency.

Militants also ambushed an Afghan Army patrol in Sangin overnight, the Afghan Ministry of defence said. The attack sparked a fierce gun battle in which seven rebels were killed and seven wounded, it said.

Bureau Report