Three Killed in Attack on Afghan Road Project

W460

A policeman and two security guards were killed Thursday in an attack on checkpoints set up to protect a road construction site in southern Afghanistan, an official said.

A group of armed militants stormed three checkpoints early Thursday on a road project linking the volatile Chora district to Trinkot, the capital of Uruzgan province.

"The fighting continued for several hours. Two private security guards and one policeman were martyred and one policeman was wounded," provincial spokesman Milad Modaser told Agence France Presse.

The spokesman said a number of the attackers were killed or wounded in the fighting but could not provide an exact figure.

The Taliban were not immediately available to comment but the Islamist militants have threatened to kill anyone who participates in projects connected with or funded by the international community or Afghan government.

Last month, hundreds of Taliban fighters attacked a road construction site in the eastern province of Paktia, killing 36 workers and guards in one of their worst attacks in months.

There are around 130,000 international troops battling a Taliban-led insurgency after they were ousted from power by a U.S.-led invasion in late 2001.

Comments 0