Afghan forces, Taliban rebels clash
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-05-31 14:57

Afghan security forces hunting rebels in a trouble-plagued southern province clashed with a group of Taliban fighters but there were conflicting reports on Tuesday about what happened.

An official in Zabul province said 10 Taliban fighters and one policeman had been killed in the Sunday battle. The Taliban said nine government men and one of their fighters had been killed.

"We got intelligence that there were Taliban in a village, so we launched an operation and as a result 10 Taliban were killed," said Gulab Shah Alikhel, spokesman for the governor of Zabul province.

One policeman was killed and two wounded, he said.

Taliban fighters have been involved in a series of bloody clashes with government and U.S.-led troops in the south and east of the country in recent weeks.

A Taliban spokesman confirmed the clash but said rebel fighters had ambushed a government patrol and nine policemen had been killed. One Taliban had been killed, said the spokesman, Abdul Latif Hakimi.

Taliban claims are often exaggerated or even fabricated but an aid official working in southern Afghanistan, who declined to be identified, also said nine government men had been killed.

In Kabul, Interior Ministry and Defense Ministry spokesmen denied that a clash had taken place at all.

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