Kunduz (Afghanistan): Taliban fighters
overran a police post in northern Afghanistan on Thursday, killing
eight officers, the provincial governor said, in an attack
that underscores the militia`s widening insurgency.
The attack took place in Kunduz city, capital of the
province of the same name which has become increasing restive
as the hardline Islamist Taliban expand their footprint across
the previously peaceful northern provinces.
"Taliban attacked a police post and killed eight
policemen. There were nine people in the post, one of them
survived though he was injured," governor Mohammad Omar said.
Residents say some areas of Kunduz have come under
Taliban control, and describe recruitment drives that exploit
high unemployment and disillusionment with a largely corrupt
state security apparatus.
NATO and the United States have 141,000 troops in the
country, set to peak at 150,000 in coming weeks as efforts to
quell the insurgency, especially in the south, escalate.
Most deployments as part of US President Barack
Obama`s 30,000-strong troop surge are heading to southern
Kandahar and Helmand provinces, though others are heading
north to reinforce small bases run by NATO allies.
Two Spanish paramilitary police along with a Spanish
interpreter were shot dead by an Afghan policeman at a
training session on a NATO base in northwestern Afghanistan
yesterday.
The Afghan man was shot dead by security forces, an
action that triggered protests by angry locals who tried to
storm the base.
The deaths brought to 462 the number of foreign troops
to die in the Afghan war this year, according to an AFP tally
based on a county kept by the independent icasualties.org
website.
The alliance is trying to build up the Afghan police
force and army to enable the country to take on responsibility
for national security and allow foreign troops to withdraw.
Obama has said he wants to begin drawdown in July
2011, though military commanders say the withdrawal will be
gradual and conditional on the competence of Afghan security
forces.
PTI
