GHAZNI, Afghanistan, 4 October 2007 — Hundreds of Taleban attacked and captured a remote district in central Afghanistan overnight, torching the district center and killing two policemen, the government said.
Police pulled out of the Ajristan district center in the province of Ghazni after the attack and were sending police and military reinforcements, they said. The area is 200 kilometers southwest of Kabul.
The Interior Ministry in Kabul said police had pulled out in a “tactical move” following heavy attacks by the rebels, who used artillery and rocket fire that damaged the district center, which includes the offices of the police and district administration.
The two policemen were killed while leaving, spokesman Zemarai Bashary told AFP. “The district center is out of our hands,” Ghazni deputy police chief Mohammad Zaman told AFP.
In southern Afghanistan, meanwhile, five Dutch soldiers serving with NATO’s International Security Assistance Force were wounded Tuesday night in Uruzgan province, after militants opened fire on them, the Dutch Defense Ministry said in a statement.
