SPIN BOLDAK, Afghanistan, 11 July 2004 — A Taleban commander was killed when guerrillas attacked Afghan government security forces near the Pakistani border yesterday, and militants also burned down a US-built school, officials said. A spate of guerrilla attacks hit the south of Afghanistan even as authorities announced an Oct. 9 date for a landmark presidential election which the Taleban have vowed to derail.

Up to 40 guerrillas attacked two government checkpoints in a village northeast of the border town of Spin Boldak early yesterday, said Abdul Razzaq, commander of border security forces. He said a Taleban commander, Mulla Abdul Hayee, was killed. “His body is with us,” he told Reuters adding that three Taleban fighters were wounded, one of them seriously, while no government men were killed. But a military commander in the area, Lal Jan, said four government men were killed in the clash.

In another incident overnight, suspected Taleban guerrillas burned down a boys’ school in the province of Kandahar that had recently been built by US soldiers from the 20,000-strong US-led force hunting the Taleban and their allies. The school in Maywand district was destroyed, but there were no casualties, said Kandahar corps commander Khan Mohammad Khan.

In another raid, Taleban guerrillas attacked two military posts in neighboring Helmand province, district spokesman Wali Mohammad said. Three guerrillas and three government soldiers were wounded in the Friday clash, he said.

And in the southern province of Zabul yesterday, a government militia man was wounded when provincial forces attacked a Taleban position to successfully free 15 village elders detained by the guerrillas in its Mizan district. Taleban spokesmen said earlier the guerrillas were planning to put the detainees on trial for backing the government.

The UN-Afghan election body said on Friday that long-awaited presidential polls would be held next month, but parliamentary polls would be delayed until April. The Taleban and allied militants have vowed to disrupt what are billed as Afghanistan’s first ever free vote.

The US-backed government had hoped to hold both elections in June, but logistical problems and lack of security in the south and east forced a delay. Militants have killed several election workers in recent weeks and, in the worst attack, 16 bus passengers found carrying voter registration cards were shot dead.

Afghanistan’s electoral commission said it was necessary to delay parliamentary polls, put off until next year amid shaky security. Election officials said that the already-delayed parliamentary vote would be put off again until April to allow more time for voter registration, the disarming of militia and the strengthening of Afghan security forces.

Meanwhile, international peacekeepers said yesterday they would not tolerate vigilantes operating private jails in Afghanistan, following the arrests of three Americans who were allegedly using Kabul as a base for personal anti-terrorism work.

The existence of the small group of foreigners and locals working in Kabul was of “significant concern” to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, spokesman Cmdr. Chris Henderson said. “There can only be one lawful authority in Afghanistan ... and that can only be the Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan,” he said.