By KUNA,
Kabul : A top police officer and his nine cops were killed following an exchange of fire with private security guards in southern Afghanistan on Monday. Matiullah Khan Qateh, police chief of the country’s southern province of Kandahar, and nine more policemen were killed during a clash with private guards. Officials said the guards were trained by the US troops. It is not known what sparked the fighting near the office of the attorney general in Kandahar City, capital of the province having the same name. Neither senior government officials, nor the NATO or US troops so far released any comment. However, locals said they had seen foreign troops in the area at the time of the shootout. Another senior officer who died in the clash was head of the crime branch in Kandahar province, officials said. They said the guards were shifting a prisoner to somewhere when the fighting erupted. Identity of the prisoner is not known. Fear and confusion ran hight in the city of Kandahar, once known to be the stronghold of the anti-government Taliban. Neither the officials, nor member of the provincial assembly knowns what sparked the battle that claimed the life of the top officer besides nine others. Fear was also there and many people shut their businesses following the incident, the first of its type in this spiritual capital of the Taliban.