A fierce gunfire between Taliban and Police in Dai Kundi province claimed the lives of 21 Taliban and 10 Afghan police, Afghan Interior Ministry said.

According to Afghan Interior Ministry, a group of Taliban attacked a police check post in Kajran district of central Dai Kundi province on Sunday and after gunfire erupted between two sides, 21 Taliban and 10 Afghan police were killed and 7 other policemen were wounded.

Dai Kundi located in the central part of Afghanistan is one of the relatively secure provinces in the country and there are rare cases of insurgency in this province. Taliban did not comment about the Dai Kundi battle.  Meanwhile, the Afghan Interior Ministry claimed the killing of 39 Taliban fighters in a separate operation in southern Uruzgan province. Afghan police supported by International Assistance Security Forces (ISAF) killed 39 militants and recovered some weapons during an operation in Charcheno area of southern Uruzgan province on Saturday, Interior Ministry said.

“The joint Afghan and ISAF forces recovered 30 AK-47 guns, 4 PKM guns and rocket propelled grenade from Taliban.” Afghan Interior Ministry press statement said. Security is getting worst in southern Afghanistan before Afghan and ISAF forces start the Kandahar operation aiming to eliminate Taliban and stabilize the major Afghan city. At the same time, ISAF troops detained several suspected Taliban and killed another one in northern Kunduz province last night, an ISAF press statement said.

One Sunday, a German military vehicle struck a landmine in Kunduz province, wounded two German officers, Afghan officials said.  Kunduz is northern Afghanistan is one of the major battlefields of Taliban militants and ISAF and Afghan forces. There are about 4,500 German troopers serving in Afghanistan and Kunduz is the home for majority of these troops. The US military is planning to deploy 2,000 fresh troops to Kunduz to tackle with growing insurgency of Taliban and secure the transit way of NATO supplies coming from Russia. 

Rahim Aria/LaSpecula.com

Photo: Tomas Munita/NYT