Two NATO soldiers and 11 police killed in Afghanistan

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Eleven Afghan policemen and two NATO soldiers have been killed in fighting in Afghanistan, officials said on Monday.

Intermittent violence has broken out in different parts of Afghanistan in recent weeks following a traditional winter lull. Violence over the past two years has been the most intense since the Taliban were ousted in 2001.

The 11 policemen were killed on Sunday night when Taliban insurgents stormed their outpost in the southern province of Kandahar, said senior provincial police officer Amanullah.

The two soldiers from Afghanistan's 47,000-strong NATO-led force were killed and two wounded in an explosion in the south on Sunday, the force said. It did not give the nationality of the victims.

The Taliban are fighting to expel foreign forces and bring down Afghanistan's Western-backed government.

Most of the violence has been in the south and east, near the border with Pakistan where the Taliban have sanctuaries in remote tribal areas.

(Additional reporting and writing by Sayed Salahuddin, editing by Robert Birsel)