Taliban militants attack town

KABUL – Taliban militants attacked a southern town yesterday, sparking intense fighting with Afghan troops that left two insurgents dead, the defence ministry said.

A NATO airstrike pushed back the militants, who used mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machine guns in the morning attack on Naw Zad, in volatile Helmand province, said Defence Ministry spokesman General Zahir Azimi. He said that the fighting between the Taliban and Afghan army troops was “intense.”In Zabul province, a suicide attacker ploughed his explosives-filled car into a police convoy travelling on the main road, wounding three officers, said Jailan Khan, provincial police chief.A purported Taliban regional Zabul commander, Mullah Nazir, claimed responsibility for the blast and said the bomber was an Afghan man from Khost province.His claim could not be independently verified.NATO aircraft also dropped six bombs on two Taliban positions in Helmand’s Musa Qala district on Wednesday, but there were no report of insurgent casualties, said Maj.Quentin Innis, a spokesman for the NATO-led force.Helmand, particularly its three northern districts including Naw Zad, have seen some of the heaviest and most persistent fighting during this year’s surge in violence in Afghanistan, the worst since the fall of the Taliban regime by US-led forces in late 2001.Before dawn yesterday, two rockets slammed into central Kabul, the capital.One landed in an upscale residential neighbourhood, about 10 meters from the army chief of staff’s house; the other landed in a park.Nampa-APHe said that the fighting between the Taliban and Afghan army troops was “intense.”In Zabul province, a suicide attacker ploughed his explosives-filled car into a police convoy travelling on the main road, wounding three officers, said Jailan Khan, provincial police chief.A purported Taliban regional Zabul commander, Mullah Nazir, claimed responsibility for the blast and said the bomber was an Afghan man from Khost province.His claim could not be independently verified.NATO aircraft also dropped six bombs on two Taliban positions in Helmand’s Musa Qala district on Wednesday, but there were no report of insurgent casualties, said Maj.Quentin Innis, a spokesman for the NATO-led force.Helmand, particularly its three northern districts including Naw Zad, have seen some of the heaviest and most persistent fighting during this year’s surge in violence in Afghanistan, the worst since the fall of the Taliban regime by US-led forces in late 2001.Before dawn yesterday, two rockets slammed into central Kabul, the capital.One landed in an upscale residential neighbourhood, about 10 meters from the army chief of staff’s house; the other landed in a park.Nampa-AP