Twelve Die In Police Clash With Afghan Militants

(RFE/RL) May 27, 2007 -- Afghan police say a clash with Taliban militants in southern Afghanistan on the evening of May 26 killed two Afghan police officers and 10 insurgents.

A police official said Taliban militants attacked a police post in the Shah Walikot district of Kandahar Province, triggering a gun battle.


Meanwhile, NATO and U.S.-led forces announced today the capture of two Taliban and Al-Qaeda "cell leaders" in the south and southeast of the country.


No more details were given.


Meanwhile, Britain has lost its 56th soldier in Afghanistan since November 2001, when the Taliban regime was toppled.


British officials said the soldier was killed in an explosion that occurred during an operation May 25 against a compound of Taliban militants near Garmsir, in Helmand Province.


Four other British soldiers were reported injured in the blast.


(compiled from agency reports)

The Afghan Insurgency

The Afghan Insurgency

A U.S. military vehicle damaged by insurgents near Kandahar (epa)

HOMEGROWN OR IMPORTED? As attacks against Afghan and international forces continue relentlessly, RFE/RL hosted a briefing to discuss the nature of the Afghan insurgency. The discussion featured Marvin Weinbaum, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and RFE/RL Afghanistan analyst Amin Tarzi.


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