Hundreds of Taliban attack police post

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, July 24 (Reuters) Hundreds of Taliban guerrillas firing rocket-propelled grenades today attacked a police station in southwestern Afghanistan, amid heightened violence in the south before a NATO deployment.

The Taliban suffered heavy casualties in a raid on the police station in a remote district of western Farah province before retreating, deputy provincial police chief Sayed Agha Saqib said.

Separately, Taliban guerrillas killed two local employees of international aid agency World Vision, in neighbouring Ghor province, an official from the region said, and a car bomb wounded two soldiers from the US-led coalition.

The latest attacks come ahead of next week's deployment of NATO-led forces, which will assume security responsibilities from the US-led coalition in the hardline Taliban's southern heartland.

A van parked outside Kandahar city, the former royal capital and Taliban stronghold, exploded as an army vehicle carrying Afghan army and coalition soldiers passed, Coalition spokesman Major Scott Lundy told Reuters.

Their injuries were serious, but not life threatening, he said.

The soldiers' identities were not given.

Canadian troops form the bulk of coalition forces in Kandahar.

On Saturday, a suicide car bomber rammed a coalition vehicle in Kandahar city and as Afghan authorities tried to push back onlookers and deal with casualties from the blast, a second suicide bomber on foot blew himself up.

At least five Afghans and two Canadian soldiers were killed.

More than 1,700 people have been killed in Afghan violence this year, most of them Taliban, according to US and Afghan figures. More than 70 foreign troops as well as scores of civilians have also been killed.

The Taliban have vowed to drive out foreign forces from Afghanistan and topple President Hamid Karzai's government.

NATO chiefs toured three southern provinces last week, including Kandahar, and reported security was satisfactory as the alliance gears up for what will be its toughest ground mission ever.

The 26-nation body is already responsible for security in the relatively peaceful north, west and the capital, Kabul, but its mission in the south starting next month will be more dangerous.

REUTERS PKS BD1729