Taliban governor among 14 killed in Afghanistan clashes

KABUL – At least 14 Taliban fighters, including the shadow governor of the northern Baghlan province, have been killed in heavy fighting with Afghan forces, officials said Wednesday.

Amir Gul Hussainkhil, the deputy provincial police chief, said Afghan security forces launched a large-scale attack on the insurgents the night before in the western part of the province, setting off five hours of intense fighting and killing Taliban shadow governor Mawlavi Lal Mohammad.

Hussainkhil said the dead also included a number of expert bomb makers. He says no government forces were killed.

The Taliban confirmed that the shadow governor was killed and said four other fighters died in the clashes.

Elsewhere in Afghanistan, a roadside bomb killed a district police chief and his driver in the southern Zabul province late Tuesday, according to Gul Islam Sial, spokesman for the provincial governor. He said four police were wounded in the blast.

In the northern Takhar province, Taliban fighters killed a senior border police officer and wounded four police in an ambush early Wednesday, police spokesman Khalil Aseer said.