Pajhwok: Dozens killed in attack on US security firm in Afghan west

Excerpt from report in English by Afghan independent Pajhwok news agency website, Sept. 24, 2007.

Kabul, 24 September: [Passage omitted] In the western Farah Province, dozens were killed and wounded in a fierce clash between Taleban and Afghan guards of the US Protection and Investigation (USPI) company.

Farah police head Abdol Rahman Sarjang said the clash took place in Delaram District on the Herat- Kandahar Highway Sunday night. He added the insurgents attacked a USPI convoy. In the ensuing gunbattle, he said, 21 assailants were killed and 10 others wounded.

At least three Afghan guards with the USPI were also killed, several wounded and 10 disappeared in the wake of the fierce clash that lasted more than three hours. But a police official, who did not want to be named, told Pajhwok 15 USPI guards perished in the gunbattle.

Qari Yusof Ahmadi, who spurned the claim that Taleban suffered heavy casualties, said the movement’s fighters had shot dead 20 employees of the private security firm. Ahmadi claimed Taleban destroyed four vehicles of the company and snatched arms from its workers.

The US security company is engaged in logistic supplies to foreign forces in Afghanistan, but its guards are mostly Afghans. It was the sixth Taleban attack on USPI in Farah.

Elsewhere a police commander for the northeastern zone escaped unhurt in a blast in Taloqan, capital of the Takhar Province. Hezbollah planted the remote-controlled landmine near Maj-Gen Sayed Habib. But the mine exploded before time and wounded the miscreant.

Brig-Gen Ziauddin Mahmudi, police chief of Takhar, said the blast took place in the fourth district of the city. He added police arrested the suspect and recovered 10 remote-controlled bombs, a rocket launcher and a Kalashnikov assault rifle from his house.

He claimed the detainee confessed to having links with Taleban and Al-Qa’idah besides involvement in a recent rocket attack on the police headquarters, killing one and wounding seven others.

The governor’s house in the central Kapisa Province and Zankhan District headquarters in Ghazni were attacked with artillery and rocket-fire Sunday night. Col Mohammad Zaman, Ghazni police chief, said the district headquarters was shelled but there were no casualties.

Mahmud-e Raqi [capital of Kapisa Province] also came under heavy arms attack Sunday night.

Col Sakhi Dad Matin, provincial crimes branch head, said rockets landed near women affairs department and in nearby fields. He admitted windowpanes of the office were smashed.

[Description of Source: Kabul Pajhwok Afghan News (Internet Version-WWW) in English -- Pajhwok Afghan News, established in April 2004, provides daily news and features in Pashto, Dari, English and Urdu. Self-described as "independent," it often reports on security matters and the Taliban activities. It claims to be staffed, managed, and led entirely by Afghans. According to the site, it receives financial support from USAID's Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM). OSC IAP20070924950037 Kabul Pajhwok Afghan News (Internet Version-WWW) in English 1045 GMT 24 Sep 07]