26 attackers killed in Sangin battle

LASHKARGAH (PAN insurgents and four policemen were killed during fierce gun-battles entering a second day on Tuesday in southern Helmand province, an official said.

Hundreds of Taliban fighters, including foreigners, launched cooperated attacks on police posts in the Sangin district around 5am on Monday, the governor’s spokesman said.

Omar Zwak said the clashes that involved around 1,000 militants were still ongoing in various parts of the town. A number of attackers and five policemen were injured.

He said Arab, Chechen, Iranian and Pakistani insurgents were fighting alongside the Afghan Taliban using both heavy and light weapons.

He said the insurgents launched cooperated attacks on security posts in Sarwan Qala, upper and lower Qalawal, Mian Rodi, Fatehzai and other areas. Zwak said the security forces were putting up stiff resistance and they had no support from foreign troops.

However, the US-led coalition said the Taliban force totaled 80 to 100 fighters and managed to launch only sporadic attacks on outlying police posts in the district.

Ten groups of between 8 and 10 Taliban fighters were “doing drive-by shootings against five police checkpoints,” said Col. Thomas Collins, a coalition spokesman. “None of the checkpoints were overrun.”

A Taliban spokesman Qari Yousaf Ahmadi claimed nearly a dozen policemen were killed and a dozen more injured and two police vehicles destroyed in the attacks.

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