KABUL - Taliban insurgents attacked a house in southern Afghanistan and killed 20 Afghan policemen and a woman, officials said Thursday. The attack took place in Musa Qala district in the volatile southern province of Helmand after the policemen had gathered in the house for lunch, said Daoud Ahmadi, spokesman for the provincial governor."The enemy fighters attacked the policemen after they had lunch in one of their comrades' house," Ahmadi said, adding, "The attack left 20 of our policemen dead."
He said the militants also killed a mother who pleaded with them to spare her son, the spokesman said.
Taliban spokesman, Qari Mohammad Yousif Ahmadi, said their fighters killed 30 policemen in the attack.
The police were working as guards for the district governor, Mullah Abdul Salam. The governor, a former Taliban commander in the area, defected to the Afghan government last year. Taliban militants have carried out several attacks against Mullah Salam in the past.