KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) – A top Afghan intelligence agent narrowly survived a bomb attack on his convoy that killed three other people near the capital, Kabul, while fighting elsewhere killed six insurgents and three police, officials said.

The coalition, meanwhile, announced yesterday the deaths of 44 more militants in firefights in southern provinces over the past week – raising the toll from the deadliest three weeks since the fall of the Taliban to more than 500.

The daily violence has continued even after the Islamic extremists were ousted for harbouring al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

A coalition spokesman, Lt Col Paul Fitzpatrick, said there would be no let-up in attacks on militants.

“We will not be deterred from our mission to provide a safe and secure environment to the Afghan people,” a US military statement quoted him as saying.

An apparent attempt to kill Kabul city’s director of government intelligence, Humayoon Aini, occurred as he was returning to the capital late Friday from a meeting in a neighbouring district, said Kabul’s police chief, Amanullah Ghazar.

A bomb ripped through the first car in his convoy, killing a local politician and two others. Aini, who was in the second car, was unhurt, Ghazar said.

In southern Zabul province yesterday, Afghan troops killed two insurgents and captured two, while dozens more fled into nearby mountains, said army commander Gen Rehmatullah Raufi.

In neighbouring Kandahar province Friday, a roadside bomb hit a convoy carrying a district police chief and government head, missing them but killing two of their police guards, said Daod Ahmadi, a government spokesman.

Gunmen in northwestern Faryab province attacked a police post before dawn yesterday, sparking a battle that killed four rebels and a policeman, said provincial police chief Saqep, who uses only one name.

The coalition issued a statement announcing the deaths of 14 militants in Uruzgan province’s Dihrawud district Thursday.

Ten were killed in an initial coalition artillery barrage of a militant position, while four died later when Afghan and coalition troops, backed up by attack aircraft, besieged a rebel stronghold, it said.

A separate coalition statement said Canadian and Afghan troops battled a group of about 60 rebels in neighbouring Zabul province’s Arghandab district last Monday. It said more than 30 were believed to have been killed.

No Afghan or coalition troops were hurt in any of the battles, the statements said.