GHAZNI, Afghanistan - A roadside bomb killed six police officers in central Afghanistan's Ghazni province on Monday, the local police chief told AFP, in an attack claimed by the Taliban.
"The police officers were coming to Ghazni police headquarters from Khugyani district when they were hit by a roadside bomb," Delawar Zahid, the provincial police chief said. "Their vehicle was totally destroyed, and no one survived." Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed credit for the attack in a text message to AFP, saying the Islamist militia had planted the bomb in order to hit the police vehicle. International and Afghan forces frequently clash with Taliban militants in the restive province of Ghazni. The Taliban have increasingly targeted Afghan security forces, and also claimed they were behind an audacious assault inside the defence ministry in Kabul on Monday that killed at least two Afghan soldiers. The Islamist militia said the target of that attack was the French defence minister Gerard Longuet, who is visiting Afghanistan but was not in the building at the time. Afghan troops are due to take increasing responsibility for security in their own country in the coming years as international troops hand over control of security, a process due to be completed in 2014. Around 130,000 international troops are deloyed in Afghanistan to fight the Taliban, who have been waging a vicious insurgency since they were ousted from government in the 2001 US-led invasion.
