Ten policemen were killed after a roadside bomb ripped through their patrol vehicle in central Afghanistan, an official said Saturday.
The bomb struck their pickup truck in the restive Chak district of Maidan Wardak province on Friday, ministry of interior spokesman Sediq Sediqqi told AFP.
“Yesterday afternoon a local police vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb that unfortunately left all ten local police dead,” he said.
The Taliban immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but put the death toll at seven.
“The roadside bomb was planted by our mujahideen in Chak district of Wardak yesterday,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP.
Earlier on Saturday, two gunmen hiding pistols in their shoes snuck inside a provincial governor’s high-security compound in southern Afghanistan killing two guards in a fierce gun battle.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, saying their main target was the provincial Governor Tooryalai Weesa.
“After killing two bodyguards, the attackers seized their rifles and opened fire on other bodyguards, injuring one,” Weesa told AFP, confirming that he was not hurt in the incident.
The attackers were eventually killed, Kandahar government spokesman Zalmay Ayobi told AFP. Security forces also found a vehicle laden with explosives abandoned outside the compound.
The insurgents somehow made it through the tight security at the compound with pistols tucked in their sandals, Weesa said, and the gun fight that ensued lasted for about 30 minutes before the attackers were subdued.
