A clash with Taliban militants in southern Afghanistan overnight killed two Afghan police and ten insurgents, police said on Sunday. Separately, Nato and US-led forces announced they had arrested two Taliban and al Qaeda "cell leaders" in the south and south-east of the country.
The militants from the ultra-Islamic Taliban attacked a police post in the Shah Walikot district of Kandahar province, triggering a two-hour gun battle, police chief Obaidullah Khan told AFP.
"Two police were martyred, ten Taliban were killed and two other police were wounded," Khan said. Meanwhile the US-led coalition forces said Sunday that soldiers and Afghan police detained an al Qaeda "cell commander" in south-eastern Khost province.
It said the man, identified only as Mujahid, was behind multiple improvised explosive devices and suicide attacks in Khost province. "Mujahid has targeted schools and government officials, resulting in the deaths of dozens of innocent civilians. He has also been involved in weapons smuggling and supplying logistics to other al Qaeda fighters," it said.
Another Taliban leader was held in southern Ghazni province late Saturday, according to a separate statement.
The hard-line Islamic militia was toppled from power in Afghanistan in late 2001, but increasing Taliban unrest has claimed the lives of some 1,500 people so far this year, most of them rebel fighters.