Fighting between Nato forces and Taliban guerrillas killed at least 20 civilians in southern Afghanistan, police and officials said on Wednesday, the highest number of combat-related deaths in weeks.
At least 12 people died when a stray rocket hit their home during a battle between Nato and Taliban forces in Helmand province on Tuesday, police said, adding the rocket was fired by the insurgents.
In neighbouring Kandahar, birthplace of the Taliban, provincial governor Assadullah Khalid said at least eight civilians were killed and nine injured in bombing by Nato planes south-west of the capital, Kandahar city, on Tuesday night.
Nato said its International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) launched an operation to capture Taliban insurgents in the area, backed by close air support.
"It is believed that the air attack caused several civilian casualties along with an unknown number of insurgent casualties," the alliance said in a statement.
"ISAF deeply regrets causing any civilian casualties and ISAF makes every effort to minimise the risk of collateral damage in conducting its operations."
MANGLED BODIES
Nato and Afghan forces also killed at least 32 Taliban and al Qaeda fighters close to the Pakistani border in Paktika province.
"They opened fire on our soldiers, our hero soldiers have resisted and fought them -- you see their bodies," Afghan general Murad Ali told reporters at the scene, pointing to a line of mangled bodies.
One captured fighter claimed he was Pakistani and others said their comrades included other foreigners.
As the fighting continued in the bloodiest year since a US-led invasion toppled the Taliban government in 2001, kidnappers of an Italian journalist demanded Italy surrender an Afghan Christian convert to secure his release.
Gabriele Torsello was taken by five gunmen last Thursday as he rode a public bus to Kandahar. Police say he is being held by the Taliban, but the group says he was taken by criminals and they had nothing to do with the abduction.
The PeaceReporter (www.peacereporter.net), an online newspaper covering conflicts, said the kidnappers made their ransom demand in a phone call to a hospital in Helmand run by Italian aid agency Emergency.
Torsello was in close contact with the hospital before he left for Kandahar and has also phoned it since his abduction.
The kidnappers want to swap Torsello (www.kashgt.co.uk) for Abdul Rahman, a 41-year-old Afghan who converted from Islam to Christianity 16 years ago while working with a Christian aid group in Pakistan.
He was charged in February with leaving Islam, punishable by death, but secretly spirited from Kabul to Italy and political asylum after his case sparked international condemnation.
However, his escape also outraged many Afghans.
The kidnappers did not say what they would do if they were refused, PeaceReporter said. In Rome, the Foreign Ministry said it "took note" of the demand, but made no further comment.
Torsello's abduction came a week after two German journalists were shot dead camping in the country's relatively safer north.