Kabul: Twenty-five Taliban fighters were killed in Afghanistan's western areas and two Afghan soldiers in the south in the latest wave of insurgency-related violence, security officials said Thursday.

In western Badghis province, police chief Ayob Niaziyar told DPA that the Taliban attacked a joint convoy of Afghan and NATO forces in Moqur district late Wednesday, triggering a half-hour skirmish in which 25 fighters were killed.

He said one Afghan trooper was wounded, but Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi said several foreign and Afghan soliders were killed in the clash.

In southern Zabul province, two Afghan National Army soldiers were killed in a roadside attack as they patrolled near the provincial capital, Kalat, officials said.

A provincial police official, Abdul Majid Khan, said the soldiers' vehicle was hit by a remote-controlled bomb Thursday morning. Of the four wounded with them, one was in critical condition.

Passengers on the Kabul-Kandahar highway said the road was blocked for several hours after the blast.

The Taliban have stepped up their attacks on Afghan and foreign troops mostly in southern and eastern parts of the country in recent months.

 

Source : IANS