KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Suspected Taliban guerrillas ambushed a southern Afghan district headquarters under cover of darkness early on Wednesday, killing three Afghan soldiers and wounding three, a senior local official said.
Four militants were also killed in a gunbattle that raged for several hours in the Khake Afghan district of Zabul province, said Jailani Khan, a senior provincial police official. In a further sign that Taliban guerrillas bent on disrupting an Oct. 9 presidential election were stepping up attacks in the volatile south, militants launched two separate raids on U.S.-led coalition convoys in Zabul on Wednesday. Khan confirmed reports by Taliban spokesman Latif Hakimi that the two attacks had taken place, but he could not verify claims of casualties among members of the 18,000-strong U.S.-led force in Afghanistan and its local Afghan National Army partners. The ambush on Afghan troops in Khake Afghan came just hours after Taliban combatants killed four policemen in another part of the restive region. According to Hakimi, a convoy of soldiers from the U.S.-led coalition and Afghan army was attacked by Taliban in Azar Gul village in Dai Chopan district and seven troops were killed or wounded. Four hours later, at around noon (0730 GMT), a vehicle travelling in another U.S.-led coalition convoy was hit by a remote-controlled explosive device, killing or wounding four people, Hakimi added. The U.S. military was not immediately available for comment, but Taliban spokesmen tend to exaggerate enemy losses. More than 1,000 people have been killed since August last year in violence linked to remnants of the Taliban, toppled from power in a U.S.-led war for failing to hand over al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Most of the 18 presidential candidates have called for next month's poll to be delayed until security improves, but President Hamid Karzai, who is overwhelming favourite to keep his job, has said the vote will take place on schedule. The election has been delayed twice, partly because of security fears.
(c) 2004 Reuters
Original content can be found here.