Eighteen Afghan policemen died in an ambush by insurgents in the southern province of Helmand, a government spokesman said on Tuesday, in the latest spate of violence by suspected Taliban militants.It is the deadliest attack on the German-trained Afghan national police since U.S.-led forces overthrew the Taliban in 2001. The ambush occurred in Helmand's Registan district on Monday afternoon and was followed by a clash that went on until early Tuesday, an interior ministry spokesman said. "As a result of the ambush or clash, 18 policemen were martyred and four others wounded," the spokesman, Mohammad Yousuf Stanekzai, told Reuters.
A senior provincial police was among the victims, Stanekzai said. He did not know if there were any casualties among the attackers, whom he described as "Afghanistan's enemies", a term often used by Afghan officials to mean Taliban and their al Qaeda allies.
The attack occurred in an area infested with drug traffickers, militants and beset with strife stirred up by feuding tribes. Violence has increased in several parts of southern and eastern Afghanistan in recent weeks, coinciding with last week's start of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. Militants believe they will receive a big reward from Allah if they either die or kill while fighting enemy forces in the holy month.
