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Al-Qaeda, Taliban teaming up: minister

Coordinated attacks * The defense minister said there are reports al-Qaeda is regrouping and changing its tactics in Afghanistan. * He said there is evidence al-Qaeda is coordinating Taliban and other militant attacks. * Security analysts also warn that al-Qaeda is regrouping in the country. * Attacks have increased, killing almost 600 people so far this year, compared to 850 similar deaths for all of last year.

A resurgent al-Qaeda terror network has teamed up with Taliban militants in Afghanistan to unleash a wave of attacks which have killed about 600 people this year, a senior government minister said on Saturday.

Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak said al-Qaeda was regrouping and using unspecified "new tactics" in the attacks apparently aimed at destabilizing Afghanistan ahead of September's parliamentary polls.

"There are reports that al-Qaeda are regrouping, they have changed their tactics and have once again focused on Afghanistan," Wardak told reporters.

He said there was evidence that al-Qaeda was coordinating Taliban and Hizb-i-Islami militants attacks, which have spiked in recent months.

"We did expect that with the beginning of spring and summer, when the snow melts, there would be increased security incidents and operations, but it has increased more than what we expected," he said.

"There is evidence that confirms coordination among" the militant groups, the defense minister said ahead of a national security conference.

Wardak has warned earlier of al-Qaeda regrouping in Afghanistan and his views are echoed by security analysts such as Michael Scheuer, former head of the CIA's "bin Laden unit," referring to al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Since the start of the year, attacks committed by Taliban militants have resulted in nearly 600 deaths, mostly among militants, as opposed to 850 deaths in similar attacks for all of last year, according to an AFP tally.

The US military has also suffered heavier casualties, highlighted by the downing of the Chinook helicopter in northeast Afghanistan last month that killed 16 US forces. The Taliban claimed to have shot the helicopter down.

A US-led offensive drove the fundamentalist Taliban from power in late 2001 for harboring bin Laden after the Sept. 11 terror attacks in the US.

Some 18,000 coalition troops are still in Afghanistan, and the US military and UN officials are frequently targeted by landmine attacks and roadside bombs.

Afghanistan has increasingly blamed neighboring Pakistan for failing to stem the attacks and Wardak disputed Islamabad's comments that bin Laden, his deputy Ayman Al-Zawahiri and Taliban leader Mullah Omar are hiding in the country's troubled south.
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