An ambush and an airstrike in southern Afghanistan left seven Taliban fighters and a police officer dead, officials said Wednesday.Taliban militants ambushed a police patrol in Marja district of the southern Helmand province late Tuesday, and an ensuing battle left four militants and a police officer dead, said Helmand's police chief, Mohammad Hussein Andiwal. Authorities recovered the militants' bodies and their weapons, he said. Two other officers were wounded and a police vehicle was damaged.
An airstrike against two motorbikes carrying Taliban militants through Zabul province killed three militants and wounded two, said provincial deputy governor Gulab Shah Alikheil. A woman and a child traveling nearby were also wounded.