KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – Clashes between Afghan police and Taliban militants killed nine officers and two Taliban, authorities said Sunday.
Taliban insurgents ambushed a police convoy Saturday night as it patrolled in Kandahar province in southern Afghanistan, border security chief Gen. Mohammad Raziq Khan said.
Eight border police were killed and two wounded in the ensuing one-hour gunbattle, he said. There were no known Taliban casualties. The militants fled the attack site in Arghasan district to neighboring Zabul province, Khan said.
Separately, a suicide bomber targeted a convoy that was providing security for a regional police commander in western Farah province, provincial police chief Gen. Sayed Aqa Saqib said. One police officer was killed and three others were wounded, he said.
Also Sunday, Afghan and coalition forces arrested five people believed to have been transporting and hiding al-Qaida and other fighters, the U.S.-led coalition said in a statement. The suspects were arrested in a compound near Jalalabad in eastern Nangarhar province.
Meanwhile, Islamic militants threatened to attack Germany and Austria unless the two European nations break ranks with the U.S. and withdraw their personnel from Afghanistan, according to a Web statement.
“Germany will face more threats and dangers if it doesn’t withdraw its troops from Afghanistan,” an unidentified speaker said in a video statement posted Saturday on an Islamic Web site used by al-Qaida-linked militants.
The authenticity of the video could not be verified, but it was released by the Voice of the Caliphate, which is said to be run by Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida group.
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