Four police, several Taliban killed in Afghanistan (Roundup)

Jun 9, 2008, 14:59 GMT

Kabul - Four Afghan police forces and several Taliban militants were killed in separate attack and clashes in Afghanistan, while an aircraft contracted by NATO forces damaged in an insurgent attack in the eastern region, officials said Monday.

Two police officers, including a unit commander, were killed in a remote-controlled roadside bomb blast in the Khoqyani district of the southern Ghazni province, Ismail Khan, spokesman for the provincial governor said.

Four other police officers were wounded in Monday's morning blast, Khan said.

Two other police and three Taliban militants were killed in an exchange of fire in the western Ghor province on Sunday, Shah Jahan Noori, provincial police chief said.

In another incident, several Taliban militants were killed and one was detained by US-led coalition forces in Kajaki district of southern Helmand province, US military said in a statement.

The firefight in Helmand province took place on the same day as three NATO-led British soldiers were killed and another wounded in a suicide attack in the province, the military said in a statement.

NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) confirmed the loss of its soldiers in a statement on Monday. The deaths brought the number of British forces killed in Afghanistan since 2001 to 100 soldiers.

Meanwhile, an ISAF contracted aircraft was damaged by insurgent fires on Monday morning in the eastern Nuristan province after landing at a military base, ISAF said in a statement.

The base came under attack from rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire immediately following the aircraft landed at the base to drop off supplies, the statement said.

'The soldiers on the base returned fire with small arms, mortars, artillery and close air support causing the insurgents to break off their attack,' the statement said, adding that no one was injured in the attack.