11 militants killed in Logar clash

PUL-I-ALAM (PAN-appointed district chief, were killed and 18 others wounded during a clash with police in the Azra district of central Logar province, an official said on Saturday

Three policemen were also killed and two others injured in the clash, which broke out after militants attacked a Pamir police checkpoint in the Usmankhel area late on Friday, district police chief Bakhtyar Gul Ashrafzai told Pajhwok Afghan News.

Ashrafzai said the dead included a Taliban-appointed chief for Azra district identified as Adam Khan.

Resident Saif-ur-Rahman said the gun battle between the Taliban and police lasted four hours, with both sides using heavy and light weapons.

The Taliban claimed to have overrun two police checkpoints in the district.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said that the fighters had killed three police. He did not comment on casualties suffered by the insurgents.

Last week the same district was the site of an International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) operation that resulted in the deaths of 12 civilians and four Taliban fighters.

Elsewhere in the province, three Taliban were captured along with their weapons after attacking an ISAF patrol in the Kulangar area of Pul-I-Alam city late on Friday, Col. Mohammad Jan Abed, the crime branch chief, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) press office in Kabul confirmed the attack, saying that a militant had been arrested.

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