At least a dozen people killed in series of attacks as Taliban warns withdrawal of foreign forces will not dampen jihadi fervour

This article is more than 6 years old

This article is more than 6 years old

The Taliban began its annual spring offensive following the end of the poppy harvest with a series of attacks on Monday around Afghanistan that killed at least a dozen people.

The violence came as foreign troops speed up their departure, and Afghan forces prepare for a tough summer "fighting season" with little Nato backup.

A thinktank warned that conflict was escalating in much of the country as militants test the army's strength and try to claim territory.

"The overall trend is one of escalating violence and insurgent attacks," the International Crisis Group report said. "The insurgents' behaviour in places where the foreign troops have withdrawn shows no inclination to slow the pace of fighting."

Longer-term support from US and Nato soldiers still hangs in the balance, awaiting the outcome of a months-long presidential election process. The retiring incumbent, Hamid Karzai, has refused to sign a deal with Washington to keep US military bases in the country after the end of this year, deferring the decision to his successor.

Both the leading contenders to replace him say they would sign the bilateral security pact swiftly, but the new leader might not take office for months.

The Taliban announced last week that it would launch its spring offensive in the early hours of Monday, aimed at Afghan and foreign forces and civilians in the government and judiciary.

"If the invaders or their internal stooges believe that reducing the number of foreign forces will dampen our jihadi fervour then they are sadly mistaken," an English language version of the statement said. "The mujahideen will exert extra efforts and utilise complex military techniques in planning their current year spring operations."

The statement also promised to minimise civilian casualties, though several had died by midday on Monday. The deadliest attack was a suicide squad assault on a justice ministry building in the eastern city of Jalalabad, which began just after workers arrived in the morning.

The gunmen shot two policemen who were guarding the compound before breaking in, taking 11 staff hostage and holding off government forces for more than four hours, a spokesman for the provincial police chief said.

"Five civilians were killed from the employees of the justice ministry," Hazrat Hussein Mashriqiwal said, adding that the two policemen also died, and at least seven people were injured.

The spring offensive began soon after midnight with an attack on a police outpost in Sangin in southern Helmand province, an area where Afghan forces had backup from US marines until just a few days ago. Three policemen were killed and four badly wounded in a 20 minute firefight, according to Omer Zwak, a spokesman for the provincial governor.

Just after dawn, several rockets hit Kabul airport and the Bagram airbase about an hour's drive from the capital, but there were no reports of casualties or damage.

Around an hour later insurgents attacked police checkpoints in Ghazni province to the south of the capital, the deputy governor Muhammad Ali said, killing two women and a policemen and injuring eight others including a child.