Civilians among 19 dead in fresh violence

KABUL): Sixteen insurgents and three civilians have been killed during separate incidents of violence in various provinces, officials said on Monday.

Police ambushed a large group of fighters in the Shah Joy district of southern Zabul province, killing 14 and injuring as many others, police chief Brig. Gen. Ghulam Sakhi Rogh Lewanay told Pajhwok Afghan News.

The incident took place late on Monday night in Hassan Karez that police were ready to surrender the post and weapons to them.

As a large number of insurgents were seen arriving, the police in cooperation with other security forces ambushed them, according to Rogh Lewanay.

The dead included two dreaded Taliban commanders Mullah Abdul Qahar and Mullah Sharaf. One insurgent was captured alive and the police stayed unharmed.

The dead Taliban were on Monday buried in a graveyard in the Jafar area.

Resident Gul Mohammad said gunfire continued throughout the night and security officials were seen observing a cordon in the morning.

He said he was told about the death of six Taliban in the incident, but he had not seen their bodies.

The Taliban have said nothing so far about the incident. But their spokesman Qari Yousaf Ahmadi said nearly a dozen border policemen were killed during an attack on their post in Shamalzai district.

Security posts were attacked in Dai Chopan and Arghandab districts as well, Ahmadi said.

Rogh Lewanay confirmed insurgent attacks in Dai Chopan and Arghandab, but denied casualties.

In central Maidan Wardak province, two Taliban insurgents were killed during a clash with Afghan and foreign forces in the Jalrez district last night, the governor’s spokesman said.

Attaullah Khogyani said the joint operation in Rashak Ghar and Dahn-i-Tesha areas also resulted in the seizure of two motorcycles and some ammunitions and explosives.

One insurgent was detained a day earlier in the Syedabad district possessing heavy weaponry and explosives, the official said, accusing the Taliban of killing three civilians in two separate incidents elsewhere in the province.

One civilian was killed when a Taliban-fired rocket hit his home in Maidan Shahr, the provincial capital, on Monday afternoon.

Another two persons were found dead hours after they had been kidnapped by insurgents on the Maidan Shahr-Jalrez district a day earlier.

Dead bodies of the youth were found dumped on the same road in the limits of Jalrez district, Khogyani said.

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