Afghan clash kills 11 militants, one policeman
Saturday, 1 August 2009
HERAT, July 31 (AFP): Nearly 20 hours of fighting sparked by a Taliban attack on a NATO supply convoy in western Afghanistan left 11 militants and one policeman dead, police said Friday.
The clash that started Thursday and ended early Friday was the latest in a wave of violence that has cast doubt on whether it will be possible to conduct August 20 presidential elections in all parts of the troubled country.
Insurgents had first attacked the convoy, protected by private security guards from US-based company USPI, with a bomb blast that wounded three guards, the provincial police chief told the reporter.
They then ambushed the convoy, said the officer, Asmatullah Alizai.
"We sent police forces to support the USPI guards and they surrounded the Taliban," he said.
The clash that started Thursday and ended early Friday was the latest in a wave of violence that has cast doubt on whether it will be possible to conduct August 20 presidential elections in all parts of the troubled country.
Insurgents had first attacked the convoy, protected by private security guards from US-based company USPI, with a bomb blast that wounded three guards, the provincial police chief told the reporter.
They then ambushed the convoy, said the officer, Asmatullah Alizai.
"We sent police forces to support the USPI guards and they surrounded the Taliban," he said.