At least 71 people have been killed in a series of attacks by the Taliban in Paktia and Ghazni provinces, officials in Afghanistan say.
Of them, up to 41 people have died in a suicide bombing and gun battle, which injured 150 others, at a police training centre in Gardez city in Paktia.
At least 30 others have been killed in car bombings in neighbouring Ghazni province.
The initial double attack in Paktia occurred when fighters attacked the regional police headquarters at around 9am local time (04:30 GMT) on Tuesday in Gardez, less than 161km from the capital, Kabul.
The attackers used a truck and an armoured vehicle stolen from security forces to carry out the bomb attack, which left 41 people, including police chief Brigadier-General Toryali Abdiani, dead and more than 100 wounded, Hidayatullah Hamidi, Paktia's deputy governor, told Anadolu Agency.
Paktia casualties