Three militants killed as Taliban fighters storm Afghan police unit

Dec 21, 2009, 8:02 GMT

Kabul - Afghan security forces killed three militants on Monday after a group of Taliban fighters attacked a police station in eastern Afghanistan, officials said.

The militants equipped with suicide vests and automatic weapons attacked a police station in the heart of Gardez city, the provincial capital of the south-eastern province of Paktika, on Monday morning, Rohullah Samoon, a spokesman for the provincial governor, said.

'So far three militants were killed in a firefight and the rest were surrounded by police and army forces inside a market,' he said, but did not have any immediate information whether there were casualties among the government forces.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said via phone from an undisclosed location that five of their suicide bombers stormed the provincial police headquarters as the officers were lining up for morning inspection.

He claimed that 25 police were killed in the attack and the fighting with Afghan forces was continuing.

Shops remained closed and local residents abandoned the city's streets as sporadic gunfire was heard, Mohammad Jamal, a truck driver in the city told the German Press Agency dpa.

A police official also confirmed the attack, and said that a manhunt was ongoing as the standoff between government forces and the militants barricaded inside the market continued.