|
Afghan forces, Taliban rebels clash
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-05-31 14:57
Afghan security forces hunting rebels in a trouble-plagued southern province
clashed with a group of Taliban fighters but there were conflicting reports on
Tuesday about what happened.
An official in Zabul province said 10 Taliban fighters and one policeman had
been killed in the Sunday battle. The Taliban said nine government men and one
of their fighters had been killed.
"We got intelligence that there were Taliban in a village, so we launched an
operation and as a result 10 Taliban were killed," said Gulab Shah Alikhel,
spokesman for the governor of Zabul province.
One policeman was killed and two wounded, he said.
Taliban fighters have been involved in a series of bloody clashes with
government and U.S.-led troops in the south and east of the country in recent
weeks.
A Taliban spokesman confirmed the clash but said rebel fighters had ambushed
a government patrol and nine policemen had been killed. One Taliban had been
killed, said the spokesman, Abdul Latif Hakimi.
Taliban claims are often exaggerated or even fabricated but an aid official
working in southern Afghanistan, who declined to be identified, also said nine
government men had been killed.
In Kabul, Interior Ministry and Defense Ministry spokesmen denied that a
clash had taken place at all.
| |
 |
|
|
|
|
Today's
Top News |
|
|
|
Top World
News |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
