KABUL, Dec 2: Afghanistan was on Monday reeling from a fresh surge in violence as international leaders gathered in Germany to discuss security and progress in reconstruction made in the year since the fall of the Taliban.

Factional fighting, which ended with a ceasefire on Monday in the western Afghan province, left at least 27 people dead or injured and involved a bombing raid by a US B-52 war plane.

The fighting came at the same time as an explosion in the southeast of the country in the vicinity of a base housing US-led coalition troops engaged in the pursuit of al-Qaeda and Taliban remnants.

And in Kabul, officials said police discovered six bombs in a busy residential area in the latest in a series of security scares to blight the city.

The incidents are likely to cast a shadow over the discussions in Bonn, held on the anniversary of UN-backed talks which saw the signing of a landmark deal to create a post-Taliban leadership and usher in democracy.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai was joined by German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer and other Afghan, European, and UN officials to discuss how to keep the spotlight on Afghanistan despite the looming prospect of war in Iraq.

The talks were also touching on the security situation in Afghanistan, still a pressing concern for Karzai’s government which is struggling to exert its authority beyond the capital.

The need for increased security was underlined as villagers in Herat fled fighting between troops loyal to powerful governor Ismail Khan and local commander Amanullah Khan.

Amanullah Khan, a Pakhtoon, said his men were attacked near the city of Shindand in a racially-motivated offensive by Tajik Ismail Khan.

Although Pakhtoons are the most populous ethnic group in Afghanistan, they are a minority in Herat and have come under repeated attack from Ismail Khan’s forces.

A temporary truce was called on Monday after a government delegation arrived to broker talks between the two sides, a representative of Amanullah said.

The US military became involved in the fighting on Sunday when about 10 soldiers operating near the clash came under fire, prompting them to call in an airstrike.

US military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Roger King said the patrol had been trying to gather information on the clashes when it was attacked by troops belonging to one of the Khans.

The incident came within hours of a rocket assault on a coalition outpost in southeastern Khost in the aftermath of which one US soldier was slightly injured. Five people were arrested by coalition forces shortly afterwards.

Three people also died in a dispute in Kandahar at an unofficial weapons checkpoint.

The weekend attacks follow a month of intensified assaults on coalition forces in Afghanistan which the US military blames on harassment by the Al Qaeda, Taliban and supporters of extremist former Afghan premier Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.—AFP