Kabul, Nov 08: At least eight people, including seven militants, were killed when a group of suspected Taliban attacked district government offices in troubled southeast Afghanistan, a local official said today. The militants attacked Khak-e-Afghan administrative building in Zabul province yesterday, Zabul Deputy Governor Mawlawi Mohammad Omar told reporters by satellite phone from the provincial capital Qalat, 340 km southwest of Kabul.
One government militiaman was killed in the fighting which lasted three hours.
"Seven to eight Taliban bodies were also seen being carried by Taliban fighters early in the morning in nearby villages," Omar said.
The Taliban also kidnapped four close relatives of the district chief and threatened to kill them unless the governor surrendered the district to the militants, he said.
Bureau Report