Six Taliban including two commanders killed in western Afghanistan

May 8, 2008, 13:42 GMT

Kabul - Six Taliban insurgents including two rebel commanders were killed in a fight with Afghan police forces in relatively peaceful western Afghanistan, a police official said on Thursday.

The clash erupted after a group of Taliban militants attacked a unit of Afghan police forces in Bala-Esar area of Turi district in western Ghor province on Thursday morning, Shah Jahan Noori, provincial police chief told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

During the firefight that lasted for several hours, six Taliban militants were killed and two others were wounded, Noori said, adding that two police forces and a civilian were also wounded in gunbattle.

'Mullah Jalil, who was appointed as governor for Ghor province and Mullah Abdul Saraj, who was appointed as police chief for the province by Taliban leadership were among the six killed in this fighting,' Noori said.

Western Ghor, which is one of the impoverished provinces in the country, is relatively more peaceful than its neighbouring province of Helmand, where Taliban militants are the most entrenched.

Officials said that after the new NATO-led operations in Helmand province, which is also the largest opium producing region in the country, Taliban militants have recently penetrated other neighbouring provinces.

The recent bloodshed came a day after some ten people including three international soldiers were killed in separate incidents in the country on Wednesday.