| Taliban rebels attacked a government office in troubled southern Afghanistan, sparking a gunfight with government troops which left seven people dead, police said on Saturday. The gunfight occurred late Friday when 60 Taliban attacked a government office in Mizan, a town in Zabul province, 370 kilometres southwest of Kabul, said Zabul Deputy Police Chief Ghulam Jailiani said. Five attackers and two soldiers died in the two-hour clash, which ended when a US helicopter flew in and drove the Taliban away, Jailiani said. Three more of the 50 Afghan soldiers defending the office, which has been attacked repeatedly, were wounded and taken to an American base for treatment. Jailiani said authorities had recovered a satellite telephone, walkie-talkies and weapons left behind by the Taliban, who retreated to nearby mountains on foot. |