Eight Taliban militants and six policemen were killed in south Afghanistan, while a suicide bomber died in an attack on an Afghan army convoy in the west, officials said Sunday, according to dpa. Five of the Taliban died when they attacked the house of police official in the Ghorak district of Kandahar province. One policeman died and six civilians were injured, said Matiullah Khan Qaneh, the provincial police chief. Five Afghan policemen were killed in attack on their vehicle in the Sayed Abad district of Wardak province, south of Kabul city, Fazil-ul-Rahman, the district administrative chief said. Three militants were also killed in the shootout. In western Farah province, a suicide bomber rammed his explosive- filled motorbike into an army convoy, killing himself and wounding a soldier and three civilians, police spokesman Abdul Raouf Ahmadi said. Meanwhile, a suspected senior Taliban commander was arrested by NATO forces in Trin Kot district of southern Uruzgan province on October 1, the alliance said in a statement on Sunday. He was named as Mullah Sakhi Dad. "Suicide bombers are alleged to have often reported directly to him and would not conduct their attacks without his permission, the statement said, adding, "Sakhi Dad is also understood to be connected to Taliban leadership, especially Mullah Berader Akhund, the Taliban's second in command." As part of their campaign to topple the Western-backed Afghan government, Taliban militants have begun to rely largely on use of suicide and roadside attacks. Around 70,000 international forces and as many Afghan forces have been fighting the resurgent Taliban, whose government was toppled in US military invasion in late 2001. More than 4,000 people, mostly insurgents, have been killed in conflict so far this year.
