Policeman among three dead in Ghazni clashes

GHAZNICITY(PAN fighters in southern Ghazni province, officials said on Monday.

Another three people were injured as a joint Afghan-international security force clashed with insurgents during operations in Sahib Khan, Gandeer and Khairwal village of Andar district on Monday, administrative head of the town, Sher Khan Yousufzai, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

The clash erupted when a group of insurgents attacked the combined force on a patrol in the area, he said, adding the dead were yet to be identified.

NATO aircrafts also fired missiles on Taliban positions, killing several, but an exact figure was not immediately available, the official said. Security personnel had surrounded the area.

Andar district council chief, Saleh Gul, said five civilians were killed and six others were injured in the NATO airstrike. The victims were working in their fields when they were targeted, he said.

A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said that two foreign soldiers were killed and as many others were injured in a clash with the Taliban in Abdul Rahim village of the district.

Helicopters dropped bombs on the village, killing and injuring civilians, he said.

myn/ma