Civilians among 10 dead in Paktika clash

SHARAN (PAN): Ten people, including three militants, were killed and two others injured in a six-hour clash between in southeastern Paktika province on Tuesday.

Three policemen and four civilians also died in the clash triggered by an insurgent attack on the telecommunication department in Sharan, the provincial capital.

Paktika police chief, Brig. Gen. Daulat Khan Zadran, told reporters at the scene three gunmen in Afghan National Army (ANA) uniforms stormed the building at 9am.

He said the assailants, armed with a Kalashnikov, a rocket launcher and a machine gun, also fired rockets at the Governor’s House and intelligence department.

The attackers killed the policemen before they entered the building, adjacent to the National Directorate of Security.

Gen. Zadran added the gunbattle lasted more than six hours, with police managing to prevent the insurgents from attacking other government institutions.

A doctor at the main provincial hospital, who did not want to be named, told Pajhwok Afghan News they had received the bodies of three policemen and four wounded people.

As usual, a spokesman for the Taliban fighters asserted responsibility for the attack, but did not comment on casualties.

frm/mud

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