 Fierce fighting across southern Afghanistan killed at least three Taliban militants and two security personnel on Sunday, as BritainÂ’s defence secretary said military offensives must continue to prevent Al Qaeda and Taliban troops regaining power here.
| Didn't take long to realize they weren't just going to be peacekeepers, did it? |
Afghan police and soldiers surrounded Taliban militants hiding in a village in the volatile Gelan district of Ghazni province before launching a gunfight at about 1:30 pm, said provincial Governor Haji Sher Alam. Both sides used AK-47 assault rifles in the ongoing battle, about 125 kilometres southwest of the capital Kabul, which left three Taliban fighters and one policeman dead, Alam said.
| 3 to 1's not bad. I'll bet the cops cheated, though: they aimed their AK-47s... |
Earlier on Sunday, Taliban militants attacked a US-backed Afghan construction company on the Uruzgan-Kandahar highway near a southern Kandahar village where a day earlier four Canadian soldiers died in a suspected Taliban roadside bombing. A group of heavily armed Pakistanis militants launched a two-hour gun battle against the headquarters of the Thavazoo company in Shah Wali Kot district, about 40 kilometres north of Kandahar city, said Haji Mohammed Youssef, the companyÂ’s director. One guard was killed and two wounded before the remaining security personnel fled, Youssef said. The Taliban fighters then entered the compound, burned 14 trucks and bulldozers and stole equipment before escaping. |