LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan - Afghan police killed three Taleban insurgents who ambushed a patrol in a southern province where British troops are overseeing security, a provincial official said on Wednesday.The rebels ambushed a police patrol in the Sangin district of Helmand province on Tuesday, a provincial spokesman said. “There were no casualties among police either in the ambush or during the clash that followed,” Mahaiuddin, who uses only one name, said. Foreign troops were not involved, he said.
Britain has started deploying troops in Helmand as part of plans for the expansion of a NATO-led peacekeeping mission that will see 3,300 troops in the Afghan south. Canada has 2,200 troops in the region and the Netherlands is soon sending up to 1,600.
Taleban attacks are aimed at undermining domestic support for the deployments, military officials say. The NATO reinforcements will allow the United States to cut its troop numbers in Afghanistan from more than 19,000 to about 16,500.