Clashes leave 28 Taliban, one policeman dead in Afghanistan

May 22, 2007, 7:03 GMT

Kabul - Afghan border police killed some 20 suspected Taliban militants after the rebels attacked an outpost in the eastern province of Khost, while eight militants and one policeman were killed in a separate clash in southern Afghanistan, officials said Tuesday.

The clash in Khost, in which the coalition air support was deployed, happened in the Babrak Tana area of Alisher district of the province on early hours of Monday when a group of militants attacked the border police checkpoint, Mohammad Ayoub Khan, the provincial police chief, said.

He said that the provincial governor and police delegates visited Babrak Tana, which is around 50 kilometers from provincial capital, on Monday afternoon and confirmed the death toll.

He said they had information that the dead bodies had been taken to the other side of border on Pakistani soil and were buried there.

The Taliban said in a statement on their website that their militants attacked the border outpost and inflicted casualties on Afghan police side.

But Khan said there were no Afghan police casualties.

The Taliban statement said they had destroyed the outpost building in a one-hour firefight. It did not mention the casualties on militants' side.

Meanwhile, Taliban militants attacked a police vehicle which was carrying logistic supplies in Zharai district of southern Kandahar province on Monday afternoon, killing a policeman and wounding another, while a police car was also burned, said Esmatullah Alizai, the provincial police chief.

He said police reinforcements fought back, killing eight Taliban fighters.

Violence is on the rise in Afghanistan, particularly in the south, after a reduction in violence during the winter. The violence so far this year has left over 1,600 people dead, most of them insurgents.