Six Afghan police killed in Kandahar (1st Lead)

Sep 30, 2007, 11:14 GMT

Kabul - Six policemen and a security guard of a roadbuilding company were killed in fresh violence in southern Afghanistan, officials said Sunday.

In the latest incident, two policemen were killed and the same number wounded in a failed attempt to defuse a bomb in the centre of the southern city of Kandahar Sunday afternoon, Kandahar Security Chief Abdul Hakim Angaar said.

A journalist working with local state-run television was also slightly injured in the incident, Angaar added.

Also in Kandahar, four policemen were killed Saturday night in an attack by fighters from Afghanistan's Muslim extremist Taliban in the city's outskirts.

Police officials said a group of insurgents attacked a police checkpoint in the Loya Wyala area late Saturday night sparking a brief clash. Provincial police chief Syed Aqa Saqib confirmed the casualties, but also claimed that several Taliban were also killed and wounded in the fighting.

Taliban have in 2007 stepped up their insurgency across Afghanistan, particularly in the south and east. Clashes between police and the Taliban were very rare in 2006 inside Kandahar city, the former Taliban stronghold.

In another incident in Kandahar, a helicopter of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) made an emergency landing near the force's local base Sunday morning.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization said in a statement the helicopter was on a routine flight when it experienced engine problems forcing it to land.

'No ISAF personnel were injured and there was no hostile activity during the incident,' the statement said, adding that the incident was under investigation.

Elsewhere, one security guard of a road building company was killed and two other guards wounded in a rocket attack on their vehicle in Ghazni province early Sunday morning, Khogyani district chief Qudratullah Ghawsi said.

The road is being built from Khogyani to Jaghato district of neighbouring Maidan Wardak province.

With beginning of a new operation dubbed Nasrat (victory), the Taliban have increased attacks on government and foreign forces in last two weeks.

Earlier Sunday, the Taliban rejected an offer of peace talks from the Afghan President Hamid Karzai, demanding first the withdrawal of foreign troops from the country.

'Our position has not changed regarding the peace talks,' said Taliban spokesman Kari Yussif Ahmadi. 'As long as the Afghan government lacks its own authority and planning and as long as there are foreign forces in Afghanistan, we are not ready for talks.'

On Saturday, Karzai made a renewed call for talks with the Taliban, declaring himself ready to meet personally with Taliban head Mullah Omar and rebel leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.

The president however said a withdrawal from Afghanistan of thousands of troops supplied by the United States and NATO was not on the table.