Eight police, 16 Taliban killed in Afghan violence - Summary

DPA, Mon, 23 Mar 2009 14:03:02 GMT
Earth Times, Kabul -

Eight policemen including their unit commander were killed Monday in a Taliban ambush, while 16 Taliban fighters were killed in a NATO military raid and bomb blast in the same region in Afghanistan's southern Kandahar province, officials said. The eight policemen were killed and another wounded when their patrol was ambushed by Taliban fighters in the Rabat area of Spin Boldak district Monday morning, said Saheb Jan, a highway police commander in the region.

He said the attackers had fled the area before reinforcements arrived at the scene.

Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousuf Ahmadi claimed responsibility for the attack, and said fighters killed seven government troops and wounded several others during their pre-dawn ambush.

The poorly trained and equipped Afghan police bear the brunt of Taliban-led attacks in the country. More than 2,000 policemen were killed in Taliban fighters' attacks in 2007 and 2008.

Separately, six Taliban fighters, including one local commander, were killed when the explosive materials they were carrying went off, the Interior Ministry said in a statement on Monday.

That incident happened on Sunday in Garmsir district of southern Helmand province, it said.

Meanwhile, the NATO claimed Monday its forces killed 10 Taliban fighters including a commander in southern Afghanistan, the region which witnessed the deaths of seven foreign soldiers in separate attacks.

Taliban leader Maulawi Hassan and nine other Taliban fighters were killed in a NATO operation in Kajaki district of southern Helmand province on Saturday, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in a statement. 

The Taliban fighters were killed inside their compound, it said, adding that several weapons and bomb-making materials were discovered.

"The death of Maulawi Hassan, the latest in a series of prominent insurgents and IED (improvised explosive device) facilitators, signals another serious blow to the (Taliban resistance which is referred to by Western media as insurgency)," a NATO statement said.

Afghanistan's southern provinces were a Taliban stronghold during the time of their rule and have become the main hub for the insurgency.

Seven NATO soldiers, including four Canadians, were killed in separate Taliban attacks in the region in the past three days.

ISAF has more than 60,000 troops from 42 nations deployed in Afghanistan. The troops have been there since the ouster of the Taliban regime in late 2001. The US is planning to send 17,000 additional troops this year.