Rebel leader, police officer killed

FARAH/ SAR-I-PUL (PAN group leader and a police officer were killed during separate incidents of violence in western Farah and northern Sar-i-Pul provinces, officials said on Friday.

The rebel commander identified as Shaesta Gul was planting a roadside bomb in the Khaki Safid district when police shot him dead, the governor’s spokesman, Abdur Rahman Zhwandai, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

The town’s administrative head Abdul Khaliq Noorzai said Gul led a 10-member rebel group. He was killed by police, but his accomplice was able to flee, he added.

A Kalashnikovs and a walkie-talkie were recovered from the slain commander and the mine was defused.

Meanwhile, a Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousaf Ahmadi, said a tanker supplying fuel for NATO-led troops was blown up and its occupants were either killed or wounded in Bakwah district. But security officials rejected the claim.

Elsewhere, a police commander was killed during a clash with the Taliban in the Sozma Qala district of Sar-i-Pul, officials said on Friday.

Talib Shah, a check post commander, was killed and one of his guards was injured in the attack in Kata Qala village, Shahzada, a police officer, said.

He said the incident came two days after the Kata Qala village was cleared of rebels during a joint security operation, but the rebels returned last night to control the village. A new operation was launched to drive away the armed insurgents.

The district chief Sher Shah Babori said security forces retook control of the village after an hours-long police operation.

A Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the fighters attacked police posts in the district on Thursday night, killing a police commander and injuring three others.

Meanwhile, acting district police chief, Col. Jahangir Kiramat, said a group of rebels was arrested in Sozma Qala district. Qari Ibrahim, notorious for planting roadside bombs, was among the detainees, he said, adding the group was detained after it attacked the Kata Qala village.

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