12 Taliban killed in Kandahar: Police

Monitoring Desk

KANDAHAR: Afghan officials on Thursday said operation was underway to recover 19 persons seized by Taliban the other day.

General Abdul Raziq, police chief of Kandahar province, had told media that several policemen among 19 people were seized by Taliban while travelling on Uruzgan-Kandahar highway in the limits of Shah Walikot district.

He said the Taliban were wearing security forces uniform and plucked 19 persons from passenger vehicles.

The security forces launched operation in the Surkh Beed and Chinar areas of Shah Walikot district to recover the kidnapped people, Zia Durrani, spokesman of Kandahar police, told AIP.

He said a clash took place during the operation wherein 12 Taliban were killed and 25 more wounded, adding two national police and a local policeman were also injured in the clash.

Durrani said the operation would continue till the recovery of the kidnaped people.

Taliban, meanwhile, said they seized 17 persons including security men.

Taliban spokesman Qari Muhammad Yousaf Ahmadi told Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) that their fighters plucked a total of 17 persons including spokesman of Uruzgan governor and Afghan troops from four vehicles on the basis of intelligence information.

He said the seized persons were shifted to safer place.

Dost Muhammad Nayab, spokesman of Uruzgan governor, rejected the Taliban claim, saying he was working at his office right now.