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| Afghanistan |
| Militants Storm Govt Buildings in Helmand |
| 2010-01-31 |
| [Quqnoos] Taliban fighters stormed government buildings and the UN office in Helmand province on Friday, officials said. The battle lasted eight hours after Taliban fighters launched the assault in Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital in early hours of the day. Provincial officials said at least five attackers were killed and four Afghan soldiers had been injured in the gun-battle. A purported Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousef Ahmadi, said seven fighters, armed with suicide vests and machine guns, had been sent to carry out the attack. He said that 20 foreign and Afghan soldiers were killed or wounded, but NATO said no deaths had been reported on the pro-government side. Local officials said no civilians were harmed in the fighting. "We cleared the building just minutes ago and all the enemy elements were killed," General Shir Mohammad Zazai, the southern military commander, told AFP news agency after the fighting ended. "We have collected five bodies of the militants and the building is under our total control," he added. |
| Posted by:Fred |