FARAH CITY – At least 20 policemen and more than a dozen Taliban militantswere killed in two separate clashes between the sides in western Farahprovince on Tuesday, police and residents said.
Police confirmed the death of only colleagues and claimed 13 Talibaninsurgents were killed in retaliatory fire.
Dadullah Qanai, a member of the provincial council member and resident ofShamalgah area of Farah City, where the clash occured, told Pajhwok AfghanNews that Taliban militants stormed a police post in the area.
He said the post was overran by the Taliban but the Afghan forcesrecaptured it later.
The Taliban killed five policemen and took hostage four others in theattack, he added, saying the militants also seized weapons and ammunitionfrom the post and torched a Humvee tank. He had no information aboutTaliban casualties.
Some local officials said at least 20 policemen were killed and eightothers taken hostage by the Taliban.
Elsewhere in Farah, , the Taliban stormed security posts in Farahrod Bazaarin Bala Bolok district on Monday night.
Atiqullah, a resident of the area, said the Taliban attacked three securityposts in the area and briefly captured one of them rebels.
The attackers killed 15 policemen and kidnapped four others in the attack,said the resident, who was not aware if the rebels had also sufferedcasualties.
A Taliban spokesman, Qari Yusuf Ahmadi, claimed 26 security personnel werekilled and 10 others were taken hostage in the Farahrod attack.
He said the fighters also seized all ammunition from the government forces.
But Naser Mahri, the governor’s spokesman, rejected Taliban’s claim andsaid eight policemen and 13 Taliban were killed in Monday’s night attack.
Mahri also rejected some policemen had been taken hostage and said nosecurity post had fallen to the rebel group.
According to reports, 17 policemen have been killed in similar attacks inFarah in the past one week.
About two weeks ago, a number of Italian soldiers arrived in Farah tosupport Afghan air forces in their operations against militants.