KABUL: Five soldiers and seven militants were killed in fighting that erupted when security forces went to rescue a Czech diplomat who came under fire in eastern Afghanistan, an official said yesterday.
The Afghan military forces responded to a call for help after the charge d’affaires of the Czech embassy in Kabul was fired on by gunmen while he was travelling through eastern Paktia province, a provincial spokesman said.
The diplomat, Filip Velach, was unhurt but two of his bodyguards were injured in the attack in Zurmat district, Din Mohamed Darwish said.
“Fighting erupted after the soldiers arrived in the area. Five soldiers and seven Taliban were killed in the fighting,” Darwish said, adding the battle lasted more than one hour.
The men had taken refuge in a house before the troops arrived, the spokesman said.
A Czech foreign ministry spokeswoman said the three put out a distress call to Nato’s International Security Assistance Force. They were taken by helicopter to a US military base.
Velach has been heading the Czech diplomatic mission in Kabul since mid-April. Around 180 Czech soldiers are serving in ISAF.
Paktia, on the border with Pakistan, is among the provinces in Afghanistan that sees regular violence blamed on Taliban insurgents, with several incidents reported around Zurmat.
In a separate incident, five Taliban were killed after about eight rebels attacked a joint Afghan and coalition checkpost in southern Kandahar just before midnight, the US-led coalition said.
“Eight insurgents came out from the vehicles and started firing on the checkpoint. Afghan border police and coalition forces returned fire, killing five of them,” it said in a statement.
In another incident linked to an advancing Taliban insurgency, Afghan and coalition forces detained a suspected organiser of suicide attacks in a raid in southeastern Khost province yesterday, a separate statement said.
There are more than 50,000 Nato and US-led troops in Afghanistan fighting Taliban insurgents alongside Afghan army and police. - AFP |
