Seven Afghan highway policemen were killed when their patrol came under attack by suspected Taliban militants in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, while coalition forces killed and arrested several Taliban elsewhere in the country, officials said, according to DPA. The police vehicle was patrolling the Kabul-Kandahar highway when it came under attack by the militants in the Shah Joy district of southern Zabul province, Gul Mohammad, police commander in the area, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. He said that seven of his forces were killed and another two were wounded, while the police arrested one armed militant as they launched a crackdown in the area. Afghan police have borne the brunt of casualties with the loss of over 700 agents so far this year. More 5,700 people, mostly insurgents, have been killed in the violence in the country since spring. Meanwhile, US-led coalition forces claimed on Thursday that their forces, along with Afghan soldiers, killed several Taliban fighters and arrested at least 17 others in separate operations in the southern region of the country. During an operation against the suspected facilitators of roadside bombings in southern Uruzgan province on Wednesday, Afghan and coalition forces killed several militants and arrested seven others, the US military said in a statement. A targeted compound belonged to Taliban insurgents who were involved in several previous attacks against the combined forces in the province, the statement said. Found in the compound were several military items, including ammunition vests and a set of military-grade night-vision goggles, it said. Also on Wednesday, combined forces attacked another compound housing militants with links to roadside attacks in the neighbouring province of Zabul, a separate US military statement said. During the firefight that erupted after the joint forces arrived at the compound, several Taliban fighters were killed and 10 were arrested.
