District Official, Five Afghan Police Killed In Clashes
March 14, 2006
Afghan security forces in Kandahar Province (epa)
Police in Afghanistan's southeastern province of Paktia say Mohammed Zahir was killed in a gun battle that broke out this morning while he was traveling to work in the Zurmat district. Police say Zahir used an AK-47 he was carrying to kill one of his attackers. Another attacker reportedly was captured.
In the southern province of Kandahar, an overnight clash left five police and two pro-Taliban fighters dead. Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Syed Mohammed says that battle broke out when militants with assault rifles attacked a police checkpoint in Kandahar Province's Mianashien district -- near neighboring Oruzgan and Zabul provinces.
It is isolated mountain region where pro-Tailban militants have remained strong despite more than four years of counter-terrorism operations by U.S.-led coalition forces in Afghanistan.
(with material from AP)