Rebels armed with rockets and machineguns attacked the Sarobi district centre in eastern Paktika province, which borders Pakistan, but were pushed back by Afghan forces, a coalition statement and a spokesman said.

Militants later attacked the district centre of neighboring Gomal, forcing the Afghan security forces to call in coalition warplanes for help, the spokesman said.

"When coalition air support arrived, the 22 militants who attacked the (Gomal) District Centre were positively identified and killed," the coalition statement said.

In the neighboring province of Paktia, Taliban fighters attacked another district centre, triggering clashes which ended with no casualties, a coalition spokesman who would not be named told AFP.

Violence from a Taliban-led insurgency has spiked in Afghanistan this month with a particular surge in activity in eastern Afghanistan in recent days.

NATO warplanes killed 15 militants in Paktia on Tuesday, an Afghan official said, while the coalition said on Monday that 55 militants died in fighting in Paktika over the weekend.

The US commander in the region said attacks by Taliban militants in eastern Afghanistan were up 40 percent in the first five months of 2008 compared with the same period last year.

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