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Taliban fighters ambushed security forces traveling through northern Afghanistan, sparking a daylong battle that killed 22 soldiers and police, officials said Monday.

The clash occurred in Sari Pol, at most times a relatively placid province, underscoring the growing threat from Taliban insurgents in northern Afghanistan.

Abdul Jabar Haqbeen, the provincial governor, said the security forces were on their way to the provincial capital when they were ambushed by Taliban forces in the Laghman valley Sunday morning. A battle lasted about 12 hours, with additional Afghan forces coming to the area to repel the assault, which also saw 23 Taliban slain, Haqbeen said.

Afghan forces also called on the U.S.-led military coalition to bomb Taliban positions but the aircraft arrived too late, Haqbeen said.

Also Monday, a disagreement emerged between residents of Paktia province and coalition forces over a weekend airstrike that Afghans said killed seven civilians.

Residents took the bodies to the governors office in Paktia, in eastern Afghanistan, on Monday in a show of protest, according to local media reports. The International Security Assistance Force, as the coalition is known, acknowledged the airstrike but said those killed were insurgents.

Abdul Wali Sahi, deputy governor of Paktia, told reporters that the victims were collecting firewood at the time of the strike.

The dispute comes two weeks after President Ashraf Ghanis administration signed agreements allowing U.S. and NATO forces to remain in Afghanistan into next year. The pact had been delayed for months due in part to former Afghan President Hamid Karzais charges that coalition forces had not done enough to curb civilian casualties.

Elsewhere in Afghanistan, several attacks -- including in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif killed at least 14 people and wounded 45 others, according to media reports.

In Mazar-i-Sharif, capital of Balkh province and long seen as a haven of stability, two gunmen dressed in police uniforms raided the police headquarters, killing two officers and injuring nine others, authorities told Afghan media.

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Taliban ambush kills 22 security forces in northern Afghanistan