Daily Security Brief: July 11, 2011

BADGHIS: Three militants and two policemen were killed, and four others including three policemen injured in a clash in northwestern Badghis province, officials said Monday.

The clash took place late on Sunday night in the Panirak area of the Bala Murghab district between the local police force and insurgents, Col. Mohammad Jabbar Saleh, the provincial police chief, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, the Taliban spokesman, said that in the clash five policemen were killed and two others were injured. He also confirmed the injury of two fighters.

— Abdul Latif Ayubi

FARAH: Police in  Farah province seized 198 kilograms of explosives, one Kalashnikov and three pistols during a raid on a house in Balabluk district.

Police said a suspect had been arrested in connection with the explosives and the arms.

— Quraishi

HERAT: An intelligence official was killed when a bomb he was defusing went off accidently in the Injeeldistrict of western Herat province, an official said on Monday.

The National Directorate of Security employee was trying to defuse two bombs with the help of police when one of them exploded in Shaidae area, said western zone police spokesman, Col. Abdul Rauf Ahmadi.

A Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousuf Ahamdi, said the Injeel district police chief was among five other policemen killed in the remote-controlled blast.

— Quraishi

JAWZJAN: Three Taliban fighters and a local policeman were killed in two separate clashes in the northern province of Jawzjan, officials said on Monday.

On Sunday night in the Darzab district, a policeman was killed, according to district chief Mohammad Rahimi.

In Qush Tapa on Monday morning, two militants were killed and two arrested in a gun battle between security forces and insurgents. Three Kalashnikovs, a machinegun and five motorcycles were recovered from the militants, police chief Brig. Gen. Abdul Aziz Ghairat said.

Also, a Taliban fighter was killed and a policeman was injured when a group of insurgents attacked a police patrol in the Gardan village of Qush Tapa district, according to the provincial police chief.

A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said he did not know about the two clashes. However he claimed Taliban fighters blew up a tanker of shipping fuel for foreign troops during an ambush in Seh Shanba village on the outskirts of Shiberghan. He said two foreign soldiers were killed and as many others injured in the attack.

— Wasim Yousafzai

KABUL) prevented a rocket attack on Kabul city, an official said on Monday.

An NDS statement received by Pajhwok Afghan News said the rockets were set up in the Darae Rast area of the Paghman district, aimed at Kabul.

The source added that NDS employees had discovered a number of other weapons including 20 RPG rockets, 2 anti-personnel mines and ammunition.

KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA: Six people were killed and more than 20 others injured in an apparent suicide bombing that targeted a political gathering in Pakistan‘s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Monday, officials said.

A minister was about to address the meeting in the Batagam area of the Charsadda district at around 11:30 am when the blast occurred, local police officer Ghulamuddin said. He said the dead included three policemen and as many civilians.

Witness Assad Haroon told Pajhwok Afghan News that the minister, cabinet minister Amir Muqam from the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid party, was not at the venue when the explosion took place.

— Abdul Moeed Hashimi

PAKTIKA: Two policemen and four militants were killed during a clash in the Urgon district of southeastern Paktika province, an official said on Monday. Elsewhere in Paktika, the former head of a council of religious scholars was shot dead by unidentified gunmen. And two boys were killed by undidentified gunmen.

The Urgon clash broke out when a group of insurgents attacked a police patrol in Shoi Kamar area on Sunday evening, the district chief, Nazar Mohamad Aman, told Pajhwok Afghan News. Two vehicles were also destroyed, he said.

The Taliban claimed they destroyed one police vehicle and two tanks belonging to American forces during the attack. All soldiers onboard the vehicles were killed, they said.

Residents say the clash lasted four hours,  but they had no details about causalities.

Late Sunday, religious scholar Mullah, Mukhlas Afghan, the governor spokesman, told Pajhwok Afghan News. Governor Muhibullah Samem strongly condemned killing of Mullah Merza and said that the murder of religious scholars. An area resident said on condition of anonymity that Merza had strongly backed the government and had been living in a government house for years due to threats from the Taliban.

The two boys were killed on Sunday in the Giyan district of the province, the governor’s spokesman, Mukhlas Afghan said.

No one has claimed responsibility for the deaths of the religious scholar and the two boys.

— Obaid Kharotai

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