By Zhang Yunlong, Xinhua,
Kabul : Five Taliban militants were killed and six more injured in a clash with the police in southern Afghan province of Zabul as the rebels were attacking a district chief’s compound early Friday morning, a local official said.
Firefight erupted 1 a.m. local time as a group of insurgents attacked the compound of district chief in Shinkay of Zabul and the hour-long clash caused no casualties on the police guarding the building, Barat Khan, Shinkay’s district chief, told Xinhua.
Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, who claims to speak for the Taliban, fighting the Afghan government and Afghan-based international troops since being ousted from power in late 2001 U.S.-led invasion, told Xinhua from an unknown location over phone that hisgroup took the responsibility, adding five of their fighters and also seven policemen died in the fighting.
Elsewhere, a contingent of the Afghan National Army (ANA) patrolling on foot Friday morning was struck by a roadside mine in Jalai district of neighboring Kandahar province and the explosion left one soldier dead and three soldiers wounded, Rhmat Alla, ANA’s district commander, told Xinhua. The Taliban outfit has accepted responsibility.
On Thursday, the Taliban in a suicide blast killed at least 12 people including five policemen and seven civilians and injured 27others in Dularam district of western Afghan province of Farah, according to the Afghan interior ministry.
The series of attacks came as Afghan and foreign troops have recently intensified their operations to disrupt the Taliban-related insurgents network in the south and east. The strength of Afghan brand-new ANA troops has reached 76,000, while the number of Afghanistan-based international troops also rose to as high as 70,000.
Afghan southern provinces have been the scene of Taliban-led insurgency, which usually came out in terms of guerrilla-style attacks, namely suicide blasts, roadside bombings and ambushes. Insurgency-related fighting and bombings left 8,000 people dead in Afghanistan in 2007, the bloodiest year since the Taliban regime collapse in 2001.
The Taliban, who according to the NATO military has lost capability to confront with Afghan and NATO troops directly, had vowed to accelerate attacks this March.