ISLAMABAD — A predawn Taliban attack has killed a district governor and seven police personnel in Afghanistan’s southeastern province of Ghazni.
Scores of heavily armed insurgents participated in Thursday’s coordinated assault on the governor’s office in Khawaja Omari and overran the district center, said residents.
Provincial police chief Mohammad Zaman told VOA that the timely arrival of reinforcements and air support enabled Afghan forces to push Taliban assailants out of the area in the morning, following hours of intense clashes.
Local authorities said the counter offensive also killed 27 Taliban rebels. They identified the slain district governor as Ali Dost Shams.
A Taliban spokesman claimed more than 20 government police personnel and officers were killed in the attack, confirming only three insurgent fatalities.
Insurgents often issue inflated battlefield claims.
But Afghan media quoted unnamed sources as saying the insurgent attack left 15 security personnel dead, including area police and intelligence chiefs.
Khawaja Omari was until now considered one of the safest districts in the troubled province, and it is located close to the provincial capital, also called Ghanzi.
Provincial officials said the Taliban has assaulted two districts in Ghanzi this week but failed to capture them because of a strong response from Afghan forces there. | via Voice of America
