More than a dozen police and Taliban killed in Farah clashes

Jun 28, 2009, 8:19 GMT

   Kabul, - Seven police and more than a dozen Taliban fighters were killed in two clashes in the Afghanistan's south-western Farah province, officials said Sunday.

   The Taliban attacked the headquarters of Pusht Rood district in the restive province late Saturday, officials said.

Nabi Farahi, security chief of Farah Ghulam, said the Taliban rocketed the district center and raided it, killing five policemen. Police and soldiers drove the rebels back, killing eight of them in the fighting, he said.

In another incident in the same province, two policemen were killed when the Taliban ambushed a police patrol in Bala Bulok district overnight.

   Farahi said the patrol was attacked late Saturday night in Siah Jangal area, and two police and six Taliban fighters were killed in the combat.

   But the rebels gave higher numbers of the police casualties in both incidents.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi said 11 police were killed in the first attack and four were killed in the second.

   In neighboring Badghis province, one soldier was killed when his vehicle hit a roadside bomb.

The Taliban said six soldiers were killed in the remote-controlled blast.

   The Taliban have stepped up their attacks on government and foreign forces across the country ahead of the presidential elections set for August 20.