Report: 1000 killed in Afghanistan in June; More than 3100 this year; 100 killed on Friday as reports of civilians killed in airstrikes continue

Goats keep pace with Humvees from the 3rd Marine Regiment, as a machine gunner watches for Taliban fighters in the hamlet of Rechah Lam in Kunar Province last year. The area, bordering on Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province, is an area of heavy Taliban presence. Osama bin Laden has often been rumored to be in Kunar, or close by in Pakistan.

KABUL, Afghanistan — Fierce fighting broke out around Afghanistan on Friday, with battles in three separate regions killing more than 100 militants, part of a cycle of rapidly rising violence five years into the U.S.-led effort to defeat the Taliban.

The governor of northeastern Kunar province said villagers were claiming that airstrikes had killed dozens of civilians, though he said he could not confirm the report.

The fighting — in the south, west and northeast — continues a trend of sharply rising bloodshed the last five weeks, among the deadliest periods here since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion.

More than 1,000 people were killed in insurgency-related violence in June alone, including 700 militants and 200 civilians. More than 3,100 people have been killed in Afghanistan this year, according to an Associated Press count based on information from Western and Afghan officials. Around 4,000 people died in violence last year.

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