"In the air strikes conducted in Ashagho area of Jalai district Tuesday night, nine civilians were killed and 11 others injured," Ghulam Sakhi, a victim of the bombardment under treatment in Mir Wais hospital in Kandahar city, told Xinhua.

Women and children were among the dead and wounded persons, he added.

Eight of the injured persons, he added, had been taken to Mir Wais hospital for treatment.

The incident occurred when clash erupted between Taliban fighters and Afghan troops backed NATO on Tuesday evening.

However, NATO sources in Kandahar rejected the claim, saying eight militants were killed in the operation.

Jalai district was the scene of bloody fighting between the Taliban and the joint NATO-Afghan forces last month during which more than 500 militants, according to officials, were killed.

More than 2,400 people, mostly rebels, have been killed in the post-Taliban Afghanistan since January this year.

The order follows a purge on illegal satellite dishes, which millions of Iranians use to clandestinely watch western television. Police have seized thousands of dishes in recent months.

The latest step has drawn condemnation from MPs, internet service companies and academics, who say it will hamper Iran's progress. "Every country in the world is moving towards modernisation and a major element of this is high-speed internet access," said Ramazan-ali Sedeghzadeh, chairman of the parliamentary telecommunications committee. "The country needs it for development and access to contemporary science."

Iran has not responded to a western incentive package that includes the offer of state-of-the-art internet technology in return for the suspension of a key part of the country's nuclear programme.

A petition branding the high-speed ban as "backward and unprincipled" bearing more than 1,000 signatures is to be sent to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Scores of websites and blogs are censored using hi-tech US-made filtering equipment. Iran filters more websites than any other country apart from China. High-speed links can be used with anti-filtering devices to access filtered sites.

The telecoms regulator declined to explain the decision but said it was taken by "a collection of policy-makers". However, Etemad, a pro-reformist newspaper, suggested it was part of an official campaign to stem a western "cultural invasion".

"Unpleasant whispers are saying that the motivations behind the scenes are the same as those involved in the purging of satellite dishes," the paper wrote.

Parastoo Dokoohaki, a prominent Iranian blogger, said the move was designed to foil the government's opponents. "If you want to announce a gathering in advance, you won't see it mentioned on official websites and newspapers would announce it too late. Therefore, you upload it anonymously and put the information out. Banning high-speed links would limit that facility. Despite having the telecoms facilities, fibre-optic technology and internet infrastructure, the authorities want us to be undeveloped."

The crackdown comes in an atmosphere of increasing restrictions on the media. Last week, Mr Ahmadinejad launched a fierce attack on the head of the state broadcasting organisation, IRIB, which he blamed for stoking public fears about inflation. Iran's leading reformist newspaper, Shargh, was also closed last month.

The guerrillas, disguised as fishermen, forced their way into the tightly-guarded port in five boats, three of which rammed naval craft and exploded while one was blown out of the water due to naval fire, police said.

The fate of the fifth Tiger vessel was not immediately known.

Police said two sailors were killed in the attack and a total of 26 people were taken to hospital with injuries.

Fearing intercommunal violence in Galle, which lies in the heartland of Sri Lanka's Sinhalese majority, police imposed a curfew and opened fire and wounded three people who tried to attack Tamil-owned shops, a senior officer in the area said.

Defence spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said he believed the Tigers chose to attack Galle to provoke a reaction against minority Tamils.

He said the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) broke through defences and barged into Galle, the country's third-largest city.

"Obviously they have come to Galle on a suicide mission," Rambukwella told AFP. "There was no damage to merchant shipping. It looks like they are keen to create a backlash."

The attack came two days after a huge suicide bombing against a naval convoy northeast of Colombo killed at least 103 people and wounded 150.

The government blamed the Tigers and accused them of targeting the navy on the ground because they could not stand up to it at sea. However, Wednesday's attack showed that the guerrillas were prepared to take the navy head-on.

Peace envoys from Japan and Norway were trying to convince the two sides to attend peace talks scheduled for later this month. The talks are aimed at restoring a 2002 truce.

Japan's Yasushi Akashi arrived in Sri Lanka Sunday while Norway's peacebroker Jon Hanssen-Bauer arrived on Tuesday to attempt to prepare an agenda for talks the two sides agreed to hold on October 28-29 in Switzerland.

There was no immediate indication of rebel casualties from Wednesday's attack, but police took two bodies to hospital, an official said, as the fighting was underway.

Police used loudspeakers to ask residents to leave their homes near the port and the historic Galle Fort area, a
UNESCO world heritage site.

The city got its name from a Portuguese fleet that landed there in 1505.

Rambukwella said the military sent gunboats into Galle, 70 miles (110 kilometres) south of Colombo, to counter the LTTE attack.

The military maintains a base in the area and ammunition depots in Galle harbour, which is also used by commercial shipping companies.

Residents in Galle said at least 10 explosions were heard and that there was also gunfire in the area.

Sri Lanka's military has used Galle harbour to import arms and ammunition for security forces following threats to the bigger port of Colombo, which is a container hub for South Asia.

There was no immediate reaction from the Tigers, who in December 1997 detonated a truck bomb near the port in Galle, targetting the navy commander at the time.

In recent months, the military has discovered large quantities of explosives allegedly transported by the Tigers from the island's north to other areas.

Rambukwella said several other consignments of explosives may have gone undetected and that the Tigers could be using them in the island's south to stage more attacks.

The three decades of ethnic bloodshed in the tropical island nation has claimed over 60,000 lives.

The ancient building, shaped like a wild ox skull, consists of a rectangular forepart with geometrical drawings in red, black and white colors, said the report, quoting a statement by the Aleppo Archeological Department.

On the two sides of the rectangle, two semi-circle walls representing the two horns of the ox were also found, said the report, adding that the house still keeps it original shape, colors and decoration works.

The site was discovered by the French-Syrian Archeological Mission for Excavations, SANA said.