At least 23 people were killed when Taliban ambushed a United States security firm convoy in southwestern Afghanistan on Friday. Provincial officials said it was the second attack on the firm in recent days. Provincial Police Chief Khalilullah Rahmani said 15 of the dead were Taliban killed in the fighting that broke out following the ambush. Rahmani said US Protection and Investigations, a firm involved in escorting supplies for coalition forces, also suffered casualties, but gave no details. "The Taliban attacked the convoy with machineguns. Four vehicles were set on fire," said a provincial official requesting anonymity. He said four Afghan guards and four civilians had been killed in the ambush that took place when the convoy was passing through Bakwa district in Farah province. Another convoy of the security firm had been attacked on Thursday in Kandahar city. Two people had been killed in the attack.
In another incident, the US military said coalition forces had killed more than 10 Taliban and had detained two more during operations in eastern Afghanistan targeting the network of Taliban commander Jalaluddin Haqqani. Two members of Haqqani's team were picked up in Khost province, including one suspected of co-ordinating roadside attacks on coalition and Afghan forces, the US military said in a statement. Haqqani, who was backed by the United States during the war against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, is considered close to Osama Bin Laden.
The military said US forces had also targeted a Taliban commander in Kapisa province, northeast of Kabul, adding that 10 militants had been killed in the fighting. "Coalition forces were engaged with small-arms fire from multiple groups of armed militants as they entered a compound. The force returned fire, killing the militants," said the statement.