KABUL — The Taliban targeted military posts in two western Afghan provinces and in the country’s south, killing 13 soldiers and setting off hours-long gun battles with the military, officials said Wednesday.

In one attack, in western Farah province, the insurgents stormed a security post, killing nine troops and wounding four. The attack took place on Tuesday night in Pusht Road district, said spokesman Mohammad Naser Mehri.

An intense, four-hour gun battle followed in which the militants used artillery against the army, Mehri said. Afghan warplanes were deployed and 17 Taliban fighters were killed, he added.

The second attack took place in neighboring Herat province, also Tuesday night, at an army post in Kushki Kuhna district where two soldiers died and five were wounded, according to Najibullah Najibi, the military spokesman in Herat.

The attack lasted several hours until the army pushed back the Taliban, Najibi said.

And in southern Uruzgan province, the Taliban hit an army post in Chura district, also on Tuesday night, killing two soldiers and wounding six others, said district governor Aminullah Khailqi. Before fleeing the scene, the Taliban seized all the arms and ammunitions, Khaliqi said.

Insurgents have stepped up attacks all across Afghanistan, with the last two weeks being particularly deadly.

associated press