Afghan forces 'beat back major Taliban attack'
Afghan security forces said on Wednesday they had pushed back a major attack by hundreds of Taliban fighters in a mountainous region in the troubled east of the country.
An Afghan Army helicopter that crashed in Paroon district of eastern Nuristan province during fighting with the Taliban Photo: AP
4:47PM BST 11 May 2011
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Between 200 and 400 insurgents tried to overrun several security posts on Tuesday in Nuristan, a remote province where Taliban and other rebels are highly active, police said.
The Taliban late last month announced the start of their annual spring offensive across Afghanistan against government and international troops, and recently hit the southern city of Kandahar in an assault that lasted two days.
"Hundreds of enemy fighters had been massing and last evening they attacked our police posts but were defeated," Nuristan's police chief Shamsul Rahman Zahid told AFP.
He said police were preparing for another attack by the rebels.
Zemarai Bashary, a spokesman for the interior ministry in Kabul, confirmed that "a large number" of insurgents had attacked police posts. Three officers were injured in fighting that lasted several hours, Bashary told AFP.
He said four Taliban were killed in the gunfight, but that he had no further details.
After the attack, Nuristan governor Jamaluddin Badr vowed a "clean-up operation" against the rebels.
Six insurgents were also killed on Wednesday in the southeastern province of Khost during a joint Afghan and Nato-led operation to free a mine clearance team taken hostage at gunpoint earlier in the day.
"All 25 hostages were freed unharmed and six of the kidnappers were killed in the rescue involving police and coalition forces," a spokesman for the governor of Khost said.
He blamed Haqqani network rebels – Taliban allies based in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal district.
The mine clearers were locals working for the UN-backed Afghan Technical Consultants group.
An Afghan Army helicopter that crashed in Paroon district of eastern Nuristan province during fighting with the Taliban Photo: AP
4:47PM BST 11 May 2011
=======================================================
Between 200 and 400 insurgents tried to overrun several security posts on Tuesday in Nuristan, a remote province where Taliban and other rebels are highly active, police said.
The Taliban late last month announced the start of their annual spring offensive across Afghanistan against government and international troops, and recently hit the southern city of Kandahar in an assault that lasted two days.
"Hundreds of enemy fighters had been massing and last evening they attacked our police posts but were defeated," Nuristan's police chief Shamsul Rahman Zahid told AFP.
He said police were preparing for another attack by the rebels.
Zemarai Bashary, a spokesman for the interior ministry in Kabul, confirmed that "a large number" of insurgents had attacked police posts. Three officers were injured in fighting that lasted several hours, Bashary told AFP.
He said four Taliban were killed in the gunfight, but that he had no further details.
After the attack, Nuristan governor Jamaluddin Badr vowed a "clean-up operation" against the rebels.
Six insurgents were also killed on Wednesday in the southeastern province of Khost during a joint Afghan and Nato-led operation to free a mine clearance team taken hostage at gunpoint earlier in the day.
"All 25 hostages were freed unharmed and six of the kidnappers were killed in the rescue involving police and coalition forces," a spokesman for the governor of Khost said.
He blamed Haqqani network rebels – Taliban allies based in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal district.
The mine clearers were locals working for the UN-backed Afghan Technical Consultants group.
(source:telegraph.co.uk)
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