Eight soldiers, 15 Taliban killed in Afghanistan

Kabul - Eight members of the Afghan security forces and 15 Taliban militants including two rebel commanders were killed in separate clashes and a roadside bomb explosion in Afghanistan, officials said Sunday. Taliban militants ambushed a police vehicle in Pashtun Zarghoon district of western Herat province on Sunday morning, killing four policemen, Abdul Raouf Ahmadi, spokesman for police forces in the western region said. He said the attack wounded the district police chief of the Qades district of neighbouring Badghis province, who was en route to Herat city when the ambush took place. Another policeman was killed and two others were wounded when the militants attacked a police post in Rabat Sangi district of the same Herat province on Saturday night, Ahmadi said, adding that three attackers were also killed when police fought back. Separately, three Afghan soldiers were killed and four others were wounded Saturday when their vehicle was blown up by a remote-controlled roadside bomb in the Zurmat district of south- eastern province of Paktia, the Defence Ministry said in a statement. Two of the soldiers with 'severe wounds' were evacuated to a coalition hospital in the province and two others were released from an army hospital after treatment, the statement said. The US-led coalition forces also confirmed the incident and said that Afghan commando forces arrested six suspects. Rebels also fired rockets at an Afghan army base in Angoor Adah area of neighbouring Paktika province near the Pakistan border but caused no casualties, the ministry statement said. Troops pinpointed the insurgent location and responded with heavy artillery, killing five militants, including their commander Abdul Jabar, and their comrades took the bodies across the border. Afghan and international military officials have repeatedly claimed that Taliban militants retreat to rear bases in Pakistani tribal areas after attacking Afghan and foreign forces in the country. US President Barack Obama said Friday said the new US strategy was 'to disrupt, dismantle and defeat of al-Qaeda and Taliban in Pakistan and Afghanistan,' and called the border region between the two countries as 'the most dangerous place in the world.' Seven other Taliban militants were killed in a separate clash with Afghan forces backed by NATO soldiers in Gerishk district of southern Helmand province on Saturday, the army statement said. It said local rebel commander Abdul Ahmad was among those killed. In the northern province of Kunduz a roadside bomb was detonated Saturday as a convoy of German forces was passing by, German military sources said in Berlin. The blast caused no casualties or damage to the military vehicles, the sources said. Fighting is on the rise in southern and eastern regions of Afghanistan, where Taliban militants are most active. More than 160,000 Afghan security forces and over 70,000 international troops are battling the resurgent Taliban, who have grown in numbers and gained strength in the past three years, in Afghanistan. Under its new strategy, the US government has planned to send 21,000 additional troops to the war-torn country to train the Afghan forces and enable the other international soldiers to contain the insurgency this year.