Five dead in Taliban attack on govt office
Taliban militants attacked a government office in southern Afghanistan, sparking a gunbattle that left five people dead, including a rebel commander, an Afghan official said today.
Zabul Governor Khial Mohammed identified the commander as Abdul Razzak, and said he had helped organise many rebel operations in the province, which has been a focus of resistance against government and US forces.
He said it was not the man of the same name who served as interior minister under the former Taliban government and is believed to have taken refuge in neighbouring Pakistan after the hard-line movement’s ouster three years ago.
The latest battle began when militants attacked the mayor’s office in the Atghar district of Zabul, close to the Pakistani border, on Monday morning. Militia soldiers guarding the office shot dead four suspected Taliban, including Razzak, while one soldier also died, Mohammed said.
The rebels withdrew before US forces arrived at the scene, leaving behind the bodies of the victims as well as assault rifles, machine-guns and grenades, the governor said.
A spokeswoman for the American military had no immediate information on the incident.
Militants regularly attack government and US forces close to the mountainous frontier with Pakistan. An ambush on Monday in the eastern province of Kunar left one American soldier dead and three others wounded.
Another US soldier died Sunday during a raid on the house of a former militia commander in the west of the country. The commander was also killed.
