KABUL, Sept 27: The Taliban may try to disrupt voting during the Oct 9 presidential election, the US military said on Monday.

A spokesman for the military also said there had been an increase in the number of attacks on US troops and Afghan government soldiers recently, but alleged that most of these attacks were being carried out by guerillas based in Pakistan.

The warning came as the US-led occupation force said it had arrested 10 Taliban militants, including mid-level commanders, in the southeast during the past week. "Afghanistan faces challenges as the election approaches," said spokesman Major Scott Nelson, referring to Afghanistan's first direct presidential election on Oct 9.

Taliban fighters have killed 12 electoral workers since May in their avowed bid to disrupt the lead-up to the polls. However an estimated 10.5 million Afghans defied the threats of violence and have registered to vote.

"We expect those who failed to disrupt the registration process to make desperate attempts to disrupt the election itself," Maj Nelson said. The latest Taliban arrests were made in Khost and other provinces hugging the south-eastern border with Pakistan, Maj Nelson said.

"These people range from sub-commanders to facilitators in Khost and other provinces in the southeast," he told reporters. Interrogations of those arrested in the past week had yielded "significant" information about Taliban-led militants. "The information that we were given by those individuals has been very significant in helping sort of identifying additional leaders in that area," he said. -AFP